Animal Collective - "Peacebone"

It was always a matter of when, not if, Animal Collective's new record Strawberry Jam would reach the impatient maw of the blogosphere ahead of its September release date. The taunting from those who'd heard it already could only be tolerated for so long before the collective wave of thwarted entitlement would some day crest. Yesterday was that day.
Of the three songs leaked, "Peacebone" is clearly the biggest departure from the band's jumbled trademark. Over a rhythmic electronic pulse, we get unsullied vocals clear as day and high in the mix. Feels came so close to bending spastic shrieks toward pop convention that the clarity almost feels like a letdown for fans who've invested precious time solving sonic riddles. In fairness, these easily understood lyrics are pretty hard to understand. Those who've dug to the bottom of the band's verbal pileups previously might not be surprised by the mix of mundane domesticity and fantastical images. Here, veins leak interesting colors, take-out dinner has a dark side, and monsters are happiest in their newly constructed mazes. The mixed metaphors are intriguingly odd, but it's only with a return to emphatic yelping that the track really takes off. The attempt to subvert audience expectations on the first track of side one is duly noted, but aren't those frequent eruptions of unintelligible joy the main reason we've been sticking around in the first place?