Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer (Album Review)

 

Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer

(2005)

My copy: 2015 reissue by FatCat Records.

The members of Animal Collective were introduced to cult folk singer Vashti Bunyan while touring abroad in Europe. After some convincing, the group recorded the Prospect Hummer EP in just three days with Bunyan featuring on three out of four tracks. The first two songs are demos from the Sung Tongs era, and the whole project has a similar stripped back, acoustic warmth.

“It’s You” is beautifully layered with walls of acoustic guitars that unravel like flower petals gently falling to the ground. Bunyan’s soft, sweet vocals are lulling and full of love, especially on title track “Prospect Hummer.” The Animal Collective boys inject their trademark weirdness through quiet vocal pops and hisses - converting their harmonies into percussive instruments that merely provide backup for Bunyan’s singing. The drums bump along diligently, though the production is pleasantly quaint. 

“Baleen Sample” is the only track to feature Geologist and is a mix of reflective guitar chords backed by electronic samples that sound like gusts of wind. The final song plays with syncopating stick clicks and features a cute story from Bunyan about learning to dive. Curiously, the final track was incorrectly listed as “I Remember Learning How To Drive” on streaming platforms for years. 

Prospect Hummer marked a return to the studio for Vashti Bunyan after roughly thirty years apart from music - it even led to her singing with Fat Cat and releasing a second full-length: an accomplishment that makes Prospect Hummer deserving of note. The music itself is rather simple when compared to Sung Tongs but effective in its caressing production and made wholly worthwhile via Bunyan.