Media

Animal Collective: "Summertime Clothes" (Live on Letterman) (Video)

12:44 p.m. · May 8, 2009 · by Andrew Winistorfer

When it was announced earlier this week that Animal Collective were slated to be on Letterman on Thursday, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that they'd be doing "My Girls," easily their most accessible song to date. Turns out the New York three-piece opted to do upcoming single "Summertime Clothes," a song that would fit into a four minute segment considerably better than "My Girls." It's still kind of a weird choice, due to Panda Bear and Avey Tare's colliding vocals, and the clashing and rushing samples, and I'm sure the band caused a lot of head-scratching among Letterman's audience with the four modern dancers backing them up and the seizure-inducing impressive light show. But even if "Summertime Clothes" is denser than a typical late night song performance, it's remarkable that the band, who used to rarely perform old material and performed in masks for a lengthy period, can get booked on Letterman.

Animal Collective's still excellent Merriweather Post Pavilionis out now via Domino.