Post Animal’s Forward Motion Godyssey Is a Multidirectional Misstep
The Chicago band dabbles in everything without honing into a cohesive sound

Chicago psych outfit Post Animal has come a long way since their 2018 debut When I Think Of You In A Castle, a no-frills, poppy, exciting record that served as a cohesive and crisp introduction to their versatility. The band embraced psychedelia in all of its glory, dabbling in the genre’s many nuances to create a world filled with complicated guitar licks, oversaturated drums and fuzzy kaleidoscopic power-pop goodness.
The band’s latest effort Forward Motion Godyssey, is the logical next step. If When I Think Of You… represents the band at their most open, Forward Motion Godyssey sees them more isolated and calculated, perhaps due in part to the band’s eight-day recording session in Big Sky, Montana. As a result, the unpredictable charm and confidence that made their debut so special are not as effective or present throughout their sophomore release, and at times, it ends up repeating the genre grab-bag formula that made their first album unique instead of reimagining their sound as something more cohesive.
Forward Motion Godyssey opens with “Your Life Away,” which is reminiscent of a more sensual version of Electric Light Orchestra, one of the band’s most obvious influences. Clocking in at nearly six minutes, the repetitive lyrics and lo-fi production of the slow-burning track gradually begin to blend together, existing somewhere between familiar and unfamiliar territory for the band, begging for them to lean further into something new. The chorus, “Take your love away / Would it ever be enough?” is asked repeatedly but is almost incoherent underneath the layers of crashing drums exploding against the synths. It isn’t until the last two minutes when the song finally opens itself to variation with a lush outro featuring sparkly keyboards layered over fuzzy drums colliding into the guitars. It’s punctuated with an electrifyingly confident guitar solo, reminding listeners of their roots. But you end up waiting for a satisfying resolution to the song that simply never comes.
As the guitar feedback fades out, a faint stampede of noise enters to introduce “Post Animal,” an exciting Groundhogs-esque jam that evokes psychedelic rock at its most obvious. It relies on simple, monotonous lyrics (“Are you, are you, are you animal? / Are you, are you, are you honest?) and chugging guitars to paint a frantic, nostalgic picture full of life, resulting in one of the record’s highlights. “In a Paradise,” another high point, pays homage to psychedelic doom rock with deep, satisfying crescendos and echoey vocals.