In fact, their live shows seem to be the driving force behind the development of the material on Danse Manatee. A "live" sound permeates the surface audio aesthetic here, but the more intriguing development is the music itself: Geologist contributes live electronics and incidental vocals; Panda is singing more; the whole thing sounds much more organic, while still keeping the strange otherworldliness that was found on Spirit They're Gone.... The whole sound is more fleshed out and looser, though this is not improvised music — think more along the lines of The Music Improvisation Company's late 60's material (with Panda and Geologist making like Jamie Muir and Hugh Davies, respectively), Can's “Aumgn,” and early Amon Duul with doses of your classic stream-of-consciousness pop songwriting a la Incredible String Band and Ray Davies. But there’s a very modern take on all these influences going on in Danse Manatee, one that isn’t summed up by their psychedelic forerunners. To paraphrase one review of their last record (which would only be more appropriate in regards to this new one), it makes Kid A sound like Britney Spears.

Though it’s probably unfair to single out particular pieces on what’s probably best described as a song-cycle, two tracks on Danse Manatee could stand up to the entire previous album in terms of resonance and general scope: “Meet the Light Child” and “Ahhh Good Country.” The former seems to be a revolving depiction of their newfound ensemble prowess, an epic celebration of the new Forest Children sound. The latter (the album’s centerpiece?) is less a song than some sort of strange ceremony unto itself, sounding much more than the sum of our trio of wood sprites and more like the whole damn forest (in lucid LSD-Bambi-fire-scene mode), with plunderphonic patters going in and out of phase, a kind of microcosm of Danse Manatee itself.

Edition of 1000 copies. Hand assembled "matchbox-style" CD slipcases with four color silkscreened art.