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Animal Collective’s New Gaspar Noé-Directed Video May Induce Seizures


January 29, 2013 | Andy Cush

Lyrically, Animal Collective’s “Applesauce” is a song about the simple sensory pleasures of eating a good fruit, and possibly the fear of death and environmental collapse that comes with a good fruit’s decay. Sonically, it’s complete overload, taking the more-is-more approach of 2007’s Strawberry Jam to its logical conclusion–all polyrhythmic drumming, burbling synthesizers, and frantically melodic vocals.

Enter the Void director Gaspar Noé manages to capture both sides of the track’s personality with a single, evocative image: a woman slowly, purposefully eating what looks to be a particularly ripe mango as bold, bright colors flash quickly behind her. It’s a bit like this meets this meets this, all glossed with Noé’s signature high-definition, hyperaware sheen.

It’s not the sort of thing I can imagine wanting to watch more than once or twice, but it certainly gets the job done pretty good.