Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks – Enter The Slasher House

While his Animal Collective wing-man Panda Bear’s songs are otherworldly and angelic, Avey Tare (né Dave Portner) frequently occupies the other end of the sonic spectrum – nervy, almost neurotic; bursting with energy and information. It can be overwhelming at times; his previous solo effort Down There was an interesting if slightly unmemorable homage to B-movie swamp monster aesthetics. Similarly the band he’s put together here – Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) and Jeremy Hyman (Dan Deacon) – take their cue from ‘slasher flicks,’ and Enter The Slasher House has a similarly gorey feel to it, the songs often swamped in menacing synths and fiery drums.

It’s when the music is stripped back that Slasher Flicks most succeed – Little Fang is the best solo song Portner’s written, almost a bona fide pop hit. Elsewhere the album flickers into life: Catchy (Was Contagious) flirts with melody and space, as does Roses On The Window. But there’s simply too much going on for the album to be digestible – the vocals too affected, the drumming too intense, the keyboards swallowed by effects. Come back out of the swamp, Dave.