Recommended Tracks: “Setting Sun,” “What’s a Good Life,” “Common Denominator”
For the first time since 2017, all six original members of Chicago’s psych and prog-rock outfit Post Animal (including actor and musician Djo/Joe Keery) have reunited in the studio for their forthcoming album IRON. Keery, who had stepped away from the band due filming Stranger Things, was absent from the bands previous albums When I Think of You In A Castle, Forward Motion Godyssey, and Love Gibberish. The time was ripe for the group of friends to reunite. Keery turned the page on the Stranger Things chapter of his life right as Post Animal completed the cycle of their 2022 album Love Gibberish, which included independently releasing the album and relentlessly touring.
IRON embodies the comfort and camaraderie of a reunion which was first and foremost a reunion between friends. It’s immediately apparent that the band was having fun while making this project from the opening track “Malcolm’s Cooking,” a softly acoustic instrumental that concludes with the clinking of beer bottles and the sound of laughter… just some bros jamming and hanging out.
Creation for creation’s sake was at the forefront of IRON. The band’s not necessarily throwing shit at the wall with this project, but it is a rambling, fluid album spawned from individual voices popping up and out of the collective. Each member has his moment to sing lead, bring their own lyrics, bring something immediately personal to the project. The way that everyone bounces off of each other might makes this one of their most honest and communal albums to date.
Opening the door to experimentation and the far reaches of the bands’ influences tracks range from character driven orchestral psych tune “Dorien Kregg,” to the single “Pie in the Sky” embodying a prog-rock, pop tinged banger. The track list also includes a few instrumentals, some lo-fi radio sampling, plenty of synth pop influences, touches of folk, and the bouncy psychedelic rock that Post Animal has come to be known for.
Thematically the album jumps around a lot, while the band hits on all sides of the spectrum. “Maybe You Have To” opens with a voicemail of drummer Wesley Toledo’s grandmother and the song follows the emotions of her passing: “Maybe you have to go… / I know that life it doesn’t work like that / Somebody goes you cant bring em right back / I know life it doesn’t work like that, but maybe.” The closing title track “Iron” reflects on the changing of relationships over time rounding out the album, “And if iron sharpens iron, / And we’re better off as friends, / Something’s better than nothing / I’ll take what I can get.”
Even with emotionally challenging tracks the album never feels downbeat. There’s always a hint of whimsy, the dreamed out psychedelic flares that soften the core and lighten the mood. Strong instrumentation and vast improvements to their musicianship evidently shines through on this fully self-produced album.
It’s really magical when a band hits on an album that embodies or immerses the audience in a cohesive world, but similarly maybe Post Animal’s world on IRON is not one that the audience needs to fully understand. This is still a tight-knit group after almost a decade of not creating together and IRON is a testament to this bond. It’s hard to fathom maintaining the type of relationships they have created and putting out an album thats so expertly crafted years and years later. They’re evidently having a blast making this and that experience is mirrored for the listener.
Listening to the album, I’m genuinely happy for the sound they created, through the shallows and the depths of its sprawl. On IRON, Post Animal show that they still have that revitalizing youthful energy of their early days while maturing musically and sonically. Jake Hirshland explains it best when he says, “This is an exploration of being alive and being in this group of friends.”
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