Animal Collective have a new album and we have a new year. It'll take a while to get to grips with both, so I'm jumping in, spread-eagle, and soaking it up; hesitation and caution are bad resolutions. "My Girls" is all purple lightening, Koyaaniqatsi scenery and soundtrack, magic carpets. It wipes memory of 2008 not with a blinding light, but a haze of glittery samples and drummed thunder. Bubbles of synth burst at the speed of two handclaps as the flesh drips and the metal body is revealed: pulsating, chanting, living. Just don't call Merriweather Post Pavilion your album of 2009. Bide your time. Pounce in late spring. (Not in January when comparisons to Tropicalia seem alien and wrong.)