Centipede Hz

Deakin rejoined in November 2010 and the four moved back to Baltimore in early 2011 to write. Avey Tare said he lived in a house blocks from their old school. Ben Allen came back as co-producer for sessions at Sonic Ranch in January and February 2012, and the band wanted a live-band feel, with a sit-down drum kit and live keyboards. The record leans on radio: Avey Tare's brother was a DJ in his youth, and he had a CD of station identifications from the Baltimore station B104. Wide Eyed is the first Animal Collective song with Deakin singing lead. Weitz later said coming back was difficult and the process very different from the easygoing Merriweather.

It peaked at 16 on the Billboard 200 and 6 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart. Metacritic gives it 75. Reviews were more mixed than for the previous record: Barry Nicolson of NME called it a lovely mess, while Stuart Berman of Pitchfork found the songs cluttered.