Animal Prince’s debut album Have Good Dreams is a loungey, vibey kaleidoscope of a good time. Give it a twist and you’ll find elements of tropicalia, jazz, bossa nova, and electronic music—a wild array of musical colors.
“Parallel Lines” features a call-and-response interplay between silky strings and stacks of vocals. “Impossible” ups the ante with its quirky opening vocal lilts that quickly settle into a solid groove before crescendoing into an almost-manic energy in its final minute.
Though the album features contributions from Hunter Diamond on multiple woodwinds, Seth Adam Lynn on harp, and Paul Martin on bass, Animal Prince is essentially a duo: frontperson Fae Nageon de Lestang and percussionist Grant McLeod. Nageon de Lestang’s violin playing and vocal harmonies are complex and exciting, carrying each of these songs to dazzling heights. McLeod’s buoyant handiwork on just about every percussion instrument imaginable offers often-surprising twists and turns. That two people could helm such a varied, nuanced record is a feat.
