A few hundred Animal Collective fans were invited out to Harlem last night, where a listening party for the band’s new album Merriweather Post Pavilion was held. On entering the Harlem River Room it was apparent I was in a room full of people who didn’t quite know what to do with themselves. So we all sat in a semi-circle, starred at a wall showing “trippy” light projections, and listened to Gang Gang Dance’s Saint Dymphna as we waited patiently for the album to start.

The sound was loud and echo-y, and it certainly wasn’t a place where anyone could make a definitive judgment on the record. Anyone who’s seen Animal Collective play in the past year or so will have heard most of this material, and only a few of the recorded version deviate from the live incarnations that are scattered all over YouTube. On first listen I’d say this is their most poppy album to date, and I think plenty of the Beach Boys references that cropped up around Sung Tongs and Panda Bear’s Person Pitch are going to surface in reviews. Here’s a track-by-track preview:

01 “In the Flowers”: (often referred to as “The Dancer” in bootlegs) is pretty much a straight up replication of the live version of the song. It starts with ambient noise before bursting into life, with Avey Tare singing: “If I could just leave my body for a day.”

02 “My Girls”: (previously known as “House”) is probably the standout track on the album. Somehow the instrumentation has always reminded me of Candi Staton’s cheesy house classic “You’ve Got the Love,” and I still feel that way after hearing this version. The massive shuddering bass thuds sounded really impressive through the River Room soundsystem.

03 “Also Frightened”: Again, quite a bass-y track with gorgeous harmonies from Avey Tare and Panda Bear. I think they might be singing more in harmony on this record than on any other Collective release, but obviously I’d need to hear it more to qualify that statement.

04 “Summertime Clothes”: (previously titled “Walk Alone With You”) This is a big-sounding dance/pop crossover that is probably one of the most instantly accessible songs the band has ever recorded.

05 “Daily Routine”: This and “No More Runnin’” are the two downbeat tracks on the record. It features a strong Panda Bear vocal, and is the kind of melancholic electronica that made Person Pitch work so well.

06 “Bluish”: I think this is the only genuinely “new” track on the album, with all others debuting in some form or other in recent Animal Collective live shows. Again, the huge River Room sound system swamped the track in bass, but maybe the recording is supposed to sound like that anyway? "Bluish" has a hint of calypso about it, which they return to in album closer “Brother Sport.”

07 “Guys Eyes”: (previously called “Song for Ariel”) Begins with a super-noisy intro and ends up as a densely layered song that will most likely reveal extra goodies when listened to on headphones. This one ends with a looped vocal that seems to go on forever.

08 “Taste”: This seems to have been slowed down from the live version of the track and is shorn of the sample (reminiscent of someone bashing a metal pipe with a stick) that used to run through it.

09 “Lion in a Coma”: This plays out like a combination of the eccentricities of their old material and the pop direction they hint at on this album. Like “Guys Eyes,” it’s heavily layered and will reveal more on repeat plays.

10 “No More Runnin”: I never really rated this song in its live incarnation, but it seems less mawkish here. It would probably work better as an instrumental (the “no more runnin'” line seems a little cheesy to me), with its processed beats and gentle electronic sounds.

11 “Brother Sport”: This is a great way to end an album. Not quite as epic as it has been in the Collective’s live sets, but it still builds and builds to a very satisfying crescendo. It lacks some of the Avey Tare screaming of the live version, but still retains the strong techno-tropicalia influence from the bootlegs.

It’s impossible to make a final judgment on the album from one listen, but I can understand why they’ve introduced it in this way (aside from the beat-the-leak reasoning), because Meriweather Post Pavilion is definitely their most instant album to date. The band weren’t there at the playback--a man only wearing one shoe informed us at the end that they were “in London.” And anyone wondering about the cover can rest easy, because the postcards handed out at the event seemed to indicate that the design in this post is indeed the final art.