Photo Hisham Akira Bharoocha

Whether it be a wordplay on star signs or not, “Gem & I”, the latest preview from Animal Collective’s forthcoming album, Isn’t It Now?, averts any kind of linear path in their orbit (not that there has ever been one) from where they’ve been heading on this rotation around the sun, be it the epic 22-minute existential freakout of “Defeat” or the familiar pull of gonzo art-pop that is “Soul Capturer” which preceded it. This would at least align with the nature of a Gemini, but the melatonin dripping into the band’s fading sun of psychedelic Tropicália also positions their energy as something of an inverse to typical buoyancies. “Crack open another beer / And let’s get in it / Another tip to the golden years / We’re probably in it.” And in this moment, Animal Collective are wiser in their eccentricities.

Animal Collective’s Isn’t It Now? will be released September 29th on Domino Recording Co.