ANIMAL LOVER
Conjecture, Observations and Misinterpretations
of The Residents' Animal Lover
by
PAULIE KRAYNAK
Not a review, this is simply a documentation of some of my
observations of Animal Lover. Some of it is opinion, no
more or less valid than your own, so feel free to disagree.
A lot of it is also conjecture and supposition. Just buy
the album and listen and love it.
Though there have been other releases in the meantime,
Animal Lover is clearly the "real" follow-up to Demons
Dance Alone. Since DDA, The Residents had released a couple
other CDs; One was WB:RMX which I consider more of an audio
project than "the next Residents album." There was also
Brumalia, a collection of fun little pieces, somewhat akin
to Residue but with a unifying theme, yet still not DDA's
follow-up. (There was also King and Eye:RMX which I have
never heard, it is not an album by The Residents.) In
contrast, Animal Lover is a major piece, and in my humble
opinion, will stand alongside G3P, 3rd R, MOTM and DDA as
essential must-haves of The Residents canon. This album has
many of the same themes as DDA, which I'll blab on about
below. I also mention "throwback moments" where part of AL
is audibly reminiscent of an earlier Rz piece but also
maintains the same theme. Again, these might just be my
imagination, disagree at will.
On The Way To Oklahoma starts out Animal Lover with vocals,
interesting! I could be mistaken, but I believe this is the
first time The Residents have started out something a
capella since tracks from The Big Bubble. The music fades
in behind the vocals and the journey begins. The
vocoder-sounding voice doesn't exactly recall the voice of
a cat, but it certainly gives it an inhuman quality.
There's a time change in the middle of the song, leading me
to believe that there's actually 2 separate recordings that
were married together through a cross-fade, much the same
way that the lead character melded his reality with his
fantasy. The first half is told in the first person, the
later part is in the third person. When the second part
starts, there's a dramatic sweep from bouncy to creeping,
again lending itself to the story, that the earlier part of
the character's life was not as natural and organic than
the desire-become-reality. The morphed result would seem
bizarre to us, but natural to the one occupying that skin.
Olive and Gray again sounds to me like it was put together
from 2 separate parts. Throwback moment: It opens with a
bass line which definitely brings my mind back to Mark of
the Mole (no particular track, just in general), a story
that dealt with class oppression among other things. I get
the distinct feeling that some of this is present in Olive
and Gray as well. Maybe it's the Balinese instruments or
scales present, or the corresponding story that includes a
public stoning that gives me this impression, I'm not sure.
I was initially taken aback by the Homeric chorus, it was a
shock to hear so many unfamiliar voices on a Residents
release, particularly since The Residents' vocals have been
steadily familiar since 1997. The gating used on the early
part of the vocal ensemble gives it an unearthly,
nightmarish quality, creepy! I would have expected this
sort of arrangement from a Young Gods Records act, or if
This Mortal Coil did edgier material. Whatever the
influence was (perhaps none at all), I love it. However,
after having read the lyrics and the corresponding story, I
still don't understand it. But for me, that's par for the
course. I'm particularly fond of the relentless pinging of
tiny cymbals that recall a demented merry-go-round (another
possible throwback moment, a musical nod to High Horses?
The absent-genitals story certainly does seem
hallucinatory…), which provide rhythmic motion in the
absence of more traditional choices, as there's not much in
the way of "drums" in the conventional sense here. Another
interesting tidbit that speaks directly to the otherwise
unexplained "stones" in place of people's heads in the
album's accompanying graphics is the line "rocks began
flocking around him, knocking his senses away." Yes, the
story includes a stoning, but how do rocks flock around
something? I think that "rocks" here refers not to the
stones they hurled at him but instead to the dense people
that gathered around the stranger to kill him. Also of
note, the narrating voices refer to "the stranger" as "he"
but the accusing figure calls him "it" instead. This is one
of my favorite tracks on the album.
What Have My Chickens Done Now? heavily incorporates
autoharp into the song, another first for The Residents I
think. The autoharp will show up again later in the album.
My ears are wanting to hear Laurie Amat on the chorus of
"sisters" (think G3P), but Isabella Barbier (I believe
that's her) does exactly what the story needed her to do:
Convey violent malevolence and indifference for human life
from a sweet child's voice. The juxtaposition is beautiful
and frightening, a genuinely jarring experience. As an
interesting aside, I noted that there's a familiar sound in
this track: There's a short, rising ring heard after the
line "scratched her on her face and hands" that we've heard
before, it accompanies the 2 Easter eggs on the Commercial
DVD. Get it? Eggs? Chickens?
Two Lips again brings back the multi-voice chorus in an
oddly upbeat song, given the topic. A man says "I have sold
my wife and my children too, I have nothing but tulips (two
lips) to lose" but the music is comparatively
happy-sounding. At least, until the very end: "No! YES!!"
Throwback moment which possibly adds to the contradiction
element: Right before the heavily effected lead vocal
starts, there's a 4-note progression just like the "in the
future" hook from Santa Dog ("Fire"). Santa Dog, as is
heavily documented elsewhere, is anagram of "Satan God,"
two more opposites presented together. This track seems to
be ABOUT contradiction. Having "No!" and "YES!!" right next
to each other is not an argument, but rather showing
duality, that yes and no both apply correctly; The lush,
full-sounding song against it's AM-radio sounding ending
with all the low- and mid-end washed out of it; the busy
instrumentation of the majority of the track against the
emotionally-destroyed-Schroeder-smashing-his-fists-against-a-toy-piano
outro; The foot-tapping beats and happy melodies conveying
the story of a man who has thrown away everything he loved,
and probably "has no presence in the future." And again
showing contradiction, this tracks fades out with draining
damage, against the following track:
Mr. Bee's Bumble is a snappy, bouncy instrumental that
sounds a lot like many of the things we heard on Brumalia.
This track would not have been out of place on that
release, for sure. It starts out with an
electronic-sounding voice giving a "one two three four"
countdown, and I think this puts me off a little. It
doesn't really seem to fit on Animal Lover which I take to
be a more serious album than the Brumalia collection which
was more lighthearted and even campy if you'll forgive the
notion. But again, maybe it's supposed to be there to
provide more foolheartiness against the end of Two Lips.
The real question is, what exactly is this track doing on
this album? Well, in a way, it's a wordless summation of
the album. The track is bright and snappy and upbeat for a
while, and then it ends with the sound of rain. Likewise,
we're blissfully unaware of what's going on around us, and
we go from place to place in our lives, until such time
that we are interrupted by the circumstances we put
ourselves in. We neglect the ones who love us the most. We
experience the loss of a parent or child. Or, if you're a
bumblebee, you go about your business from flower to flower
until you get caught out in the rain. (Yes, I realize that
I'm probably completely wrong, so what.)
Inner Space is a beautiful track that is similar in melody
to much of what we've heard on DDA. It has an ambient,
dreamy quality about it. Its' thematic similarity to DDA is
also plainly evident. Here's the bitching part: It floats
along flawlessly until the middle section, where Molly's
voice seems to fall out of sync with the rhythmic pulsing
of the bass. At first, it sounded to me like she either put
down her vocal first and the other part was added
afterwards, or that the bass part was dropped out of the
mix while she was recording the vocal. It sounded like she
couldn't have been listening to that rhythm part while
singing or else they'd not have fallen out of time. But
then upon repeated listenings, maybe Molly's vocal is in
perfect time, and it's the bass that's actually off? I know
that sounds improbable, but follow along with a metronome
and give it a thought. Another beautiful song. Notable here
is the maturation of Molly's vocal. It's heartfelt, not a
character, but a soul grieving the loss of another soul. I
think this is one of Molly's best moments with The
Residents, ever. Really beautiful.
Dead Men starts out with some amazing-sounding gamelan
instrumentation, the recording is really impeccably done,
I'm thoroughly impressed. Occasionally operatic lilts in
the vocals lift the sense of death to a heightened
awareness for the listener, and the tick, tick, ticking of
the clock reminds us that we're no longer spring chickens,
ho ho! Additionally there's something "different" about
this song that I'm finding difficult to accurately
describe. I noticed that the writing style in the lyrics is
really pretty different in comparison to most other
Residents tunes, I'm wondering if maybe we're seeing lyrics
from a Resident that hasn't had much exposure in that realm
before?
My Window sounds to me like it would definitely have been
equally at home in the "Loss" section of DDA. It even
harkens the same sound through the hooter/harmonica
instrument (I forget what it's called, the same instrument
that most notably provided the melodies in the live
versions of Honey Bear and My Brother Paul). This song is
so pretty and so sad, it's really pretty hard to listen to
sometimes, it feels like a raw nerve. This track is another
clear example of something that was recorded in 2 separate
parts and put together through a cross-fade. Another
favorite, morose as it is.
Ingrid's Oily Tongue is a beautiful instrumental, I wish it
was at least 3 minutes longer. Birds having oily tongues,
perhaps Ingrid is the mate of the bird from My Window? This
is pure conjecture of course.
Mother No More Speaking about the composition, I have no
words for this track that would do it justice. It is
heartbreakingly beautiful and tragic, like My Window. I do,
however, have a few (useless) opinions about the recording.
I feel that the guitar should have been re-done, or at
least mixed out; I suspect that the guitar was recorded
without the subject matter of the song being known, or else
the note selection would have lent itself to a sadder
theme. The lyrics are wrist-slashingly mournful, but the
guitar seems almost silly and mocking in comparison.
However, unlike Two Lips, I do not think that this
incongruity was intentional.
Conversely, Dreaming Of An Anthill (Teeming) starts out
with some slide guitar, and though I don't think this was
necessarily the intent, it immediately made me think of
Snakefinger. Given the overall tone of the album, and this
being the follow-up to DDA which largely dealt with loss
and regret, it wouldn't surprise me if ol' Snakey was a
smidge of inspiration here. Although it starts out nice
enough, I'm wondering what this track is doing in the
middle of the album. Perhaps it's here because the next
track starts out a capella?
Elmer's Song again starts a capella with the multi-voice
chorus, and to great effect. The lead vocal seems to be
done by "the singing Resident" but is processed in such a
way that it is a non-human quality to it, like a spirit
without a body. This notion is also propelled by the story,
as a disembodied entity talks to us listeners from the
beyond, giving us empathy for being bogged down with these
awkward bodies and fleeting feelings we put so much weight
behind, only to have them dissipate when we cast the body
off. It speaks of sleep (death), and the music
appropriately comes across like a lullaby.
The Monkey Man is a true standout track for me on this
album, really great instrumentation. Molly delivers a
remarkable presentation, I think this (along with Mother No
More) is one of the best vocal performances in her history
with The Residents, as she really does become the character
she's portraying. There's an odd inflection about the
pronunciation of words in this track, which made me
reconsider her over-the-top accent on "Chickens" track;
After a couple listenings, I'm pretty certain that her
narrating character in Monkey Man is oriental! ("The
Residents are practically Japanese, but no one knows,"
right?) For me, the music for this track is among the best
on the album, and dare I say, of The Residents' career. Ok,
that sounds like an exaggeration, but I really can't stop
playing this song over and over. Molly puts in a great
performance of a teetering, precarious character, but the
vocal's level in the mix detracts from what's playing
behind it. I occasionally find myself trying to ignore the
vocal to hear what's happening behind it, which is not only
difficult, but also feels slightly disrespectful to one of
Molly's better contributions.
The Whispering Boys is probably the "easiest" listen of the
album, almost radio-friendly. It is demented in it's
ear-unanimity in contrast to it's subject matter
(self-mutilation aside) like Two Lips. There's something
about the vocals that I can't quite put my finger on, but a
voice-combination in there reminds me of some other
performer, I think. This is another track that I'd probably
listen to more if the vocals were less prevalent. Not that
they're a problem, I just really like the instrumentation.
Burn My Bones presents finality and the will to achieve it,
a real manifestation of thanatos. The frantic hand-drums
later in the track give a ritualistic, tribal feel to it,
like a funeral pyre isn't out of the question. Burn My
Bones indeed. Another throwback moment, the low rumbling
vocal ("Anger… Hunger…") recalls the loop that began the
13th Anniversary version of Die In Terror. Coincidence?
Possibly. But, do keep in mind that Die In Terror is about
the exact same thing, the death-drive, the will to die.
Besides third person versus first, "she said she wished to
die in terror" is essentially no different than "please
somebody burn my bones." Helping this throwback notion gel
is another throwback, the surging keyboard part that made
me think of Tension Of The String from SnakeyWake.
This album is a serious kick to the head, if not heart. DDA
was an incredible work, and I really felt that there was no
way that the Rz could hit that level of achievement again,
especially on their very next album. I let my guard down. I
suppose I should be glad that I did, because this album
really is an unexpectedly incredible listen. This has
easily made it's way into my top favorites, hands down. The
Residents keep giving and giving and giving. Thank you,
whoever you are. (I know, nobody.)
The 2nd disk "…imaginary Jack" would make me think of
AL:RMX if there was such a thing, but it's more than just
dancey versions of pieces of AL. My pal Nic probably
described it more accurately when he called it "a Finest
Flowers version of Animal Lover." Generally speaking,
there's some lyrics in there not included in AL, some
re-recorded stuff (i.e. the music to My Window at a comical
[fast] speed) and bits of what may or may not have been
sketches to what eventually became AL. It's not part 2 by
any means, but certainly a bit of fun, especially after
such a weighty experience as the album it accompanies.
While I'm on the Rz, here's another general observation:
Are we now witnessing the amazing disappearing Residents?
Of the 15 songs on Animal Lover, 3 are instrumental. Of the
remaining 12, I only hear "the main Residents singer" on 6
of those songs. Of those six, at least 2 feature the voice
going through a vocoder or some other similar-sounding
filter. Another (Two Lips) has the voice going through more
processing effects than I could bench press, rendering the
voice nearly unrecognizable. In yet another (Burn My
Bones), the voice is put through an octaver (or whatever
they're calling it these days) to drop the voice to a lower
register. Vocal manipulation has long been a part of The
Residents' repertoire, but it's more than this which gives
me the feeling that there's a significant change afoot. It
seems to me that the Rz-singer is fading back from the
spotlight, something that was also noticed in the DDA album
and tour. We're hearing more entire songs without him, more
entire songs with others on lead vocals, etc. Is someone
preparing for a virtual replacement? Of course, my point is
moot because there are no Residents. No one has left the
building, because there was no one in it.
Probably 100% wrong about everything,