Geologist’s Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? takes the hurdy-gurdy to new realms

Though it contains most of the glittery, futuristic textures that you might expect from Brian Weitz, Animal Collective’s resident sound artist, it has none of the bright pop hooks. Instead, there is an insistent minimalism across these ten instrumental tracks, most of which are based on a drone and distorted hurdy-gurdy, and revel in repetition to gesture towards trancelike, out-of-body states.

Texture and mood, rather than melody, are Weitz’s primary tools. It is brave to make a rock album resting almost entirely on these qualities, and Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? can sometimes feel more like a soundtrack in need of a film than an album in its own right. This sense is strongest on tracks like the serene but slightly listless “Compact Mirror Last Names”, which, at nine minutes, is a kind of overextended reprieve from the intensity on show elsewhere, like the abrasive and comparatively exciting “RV Envy”. On “Government Job”, meanwhile, Weitz’s son plays power chords on a half broken acoustic guitar over a looping drum machine and burbling synths. It’s a sweet experiment in familial collaboration, almost proudly half-finished, and I admire the boldness of releasing it as a single. It is still too underdeveloped to hold the attention, though, even if the loose, jazzy fills skittering underneath give it a sense of forward momentum.

Despite these moments of lassitude, Weitz hits on a warped version of folktronica that does feel genuinely unique, and never lingers for too long in one mood or atmosphere. “Pumpkin Festival” is like finding yourself in the middle of a disconcerting but mesmerising pagan ritual, while “Shelley Duvall” releases the tension with its double-bass explorations and tinkling chimes. Following that, the fiery seven minute closer “Sonora” combines krautrock and the hurdy gurdy in a way that feels strangely right – it makes you wonder why Neu! never tried it.

Weitz has spoken about the excitement of seeing noise guitarist and improviser Keiji Haino play the hurdy-gurdy live, and later discovering that it offered a way for a non-guitarist like himself to approximate the sound of a guitar when plugged into a distortion pedal. This album is a testament, then, to harnessing one’s limitations to make something singular; though Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? is a magpie-mix of familiar genres and influences, from Indian-raga-inspired psychedelia to tripped-out electronica, it is also clearly the product of someone freely expanding their sound in multiple directions, and that sense of exploration and fun is infectious.