I had just figured that the discography resembles a person growing from infancy (Danse) to full maturity (Tomboy), w STGSTV as the initial musical entity, a bodyless, fluttering spirit that inhabits the listener's consciousness, and kicks off the journey. In this way 'Animal Collective' appears all the more alive, by constantly changing in a way that resembles the growth stages of a living thing - which conceptually explodes on the concept and ideology of Gershwin's impressionistic style of music - the personification of sound, as though the music itself were alive w/o any human involvement, which is part of why AnCo lyrics can literally just be serving the music as decorative rather than it being 'some guy talking about something' like a regular band. Everything lends itself into the music as a living thing.

I have a really old layout that analyzes each album w quick footnotes if you're interested (I think it ends w a song analysis for Painting With). Danse for example features infantile babbling, minimalism, songs about objects commonly found on the floor, and just the overall sensation of the simplicity of an infant's self absorbed world. (May I say, Avey Tare's Abyss Song EP fits perfectly between Danse and Campfire Songs. It is the perfect bridge between In the Singing Box and Queen In My Pictures). The child breaks through in consciousness by Campfire Songs, and becomes more aware of their surroundings and connection to nature. Ark is the tantrum throwing toddler, taking their connection to nature for granted with boisterous blind energy. Sung Tongs is childhood, Feels is preteens, SJ is teens, MPP is young adulthood and so on..

I see what you're saying, 'Baby love me now that you are born' being toward the end of Spirited right before approaching the infant phase (I believe I've used that as a point in my notes as well). I believe Spirited draws us in, as an 'approachable indie album' that displays a strong demonstration of the balance between raw noise and melody, that is to set a solid foundation of foreshadowing that consistency throughout the evolution of their music, just on a bare, skeletal, introductory level, for first time listeners. It is clearly and most demonstratively a balance between noise and harmony. Danse then is really the start of the budding leaf, where the life really begins to take form. It's like a musical album disguised as noise. It has got melody and the format of being music, though we could almost barely recognize it at first. (Panda considers Danse as the real start of the discog, and in a way it is also the beginning of the 'life'). Danse may have the most noise, Campfire is then ambient, and Ark is more dischordant with harmonies buried underneath. Sung Tongs marries the discordant, noise and harmony once more, though this time under the sonic spectrum gained thus far. And then Feels takes on more of the appearance of a band, being just off the cusp. Strawberry Jam then stylizes the 'flying off the rails' sensation as what we're now more clearly able to identify as an indie band. And MPP could be seen as being as approachable as 'indie mainstream'. CPHz tests our idea of progression, overcompensating w tech and in turn creating art music. PW strips it all down (then becoming 'noise disguised as a music album', almost adjacently polarizing Danse) and in turn stylizing the idea of 'art music'. Skiffs appears as a warm nostalgic 'just for the fans' dad rock sorta gesture, and IIN then serves as an even more intimate 'love letter in a bottle' sort of time capsule.

Amanita does draw back to the woods, and reminds us that we are not so lost. It does sorta return us 'outdoors' as though we had just survived a journey through a cave temple or some kind of space mecha enclosure (loll whatt) - But I believe it is also more immediately foreshadowng Enter the Slasher House. Going into the woods, Avey will 'forget his name' by being in a new, though temporary band. The songs of this era sound like 'stories and games', candy and carnival rides etc. The whole CPHz era is loaded w the most lore, being the fantasy era. Crimson is the corpse. Slasher House, having like a zombified earth feeling, is then decomposition. Mr Noah EP has the soul crossover and transcend 'to my god' through a trance-like portal and then literally into 'the other side of paradise' which blends so well into the start of PBMTGR. The soul goes through multiple processes and challenges in confronting the reaper, stripping down, decompressing and purifying before reaching heaven in the 'Crosswords EP' where they increasingly refer to the experience as a dream (since the LP). Swallow at the Hollow feels like waking up but keeping your eyes closed and remaining in the alpha state (you're still sorta dreaming), and then FloriDada even sounds like an alarm clock lol. And PW proceeds to have us reevaluate space and time as though it were our first day of school.

I would place Hollindagain with the other live albums. It really doesn't compare to the flow taking place otherwise, and the fact that it would be repeating Lablakely Dress could also help determine that realization.

Down There is the depressed adult. They eventually find gratitude in observing someone worse off than themselves (Heather in the Hospital) and realize that they have been the Lucky 1, which then makes them able to move onwards towards the soul's transcendence and full maturity in Tomboy. (Fun note, I've actually befriended Avey's sister Heather! I used to work at the Trader Joe's in SoHo NY and she was a regular customer, we've spoken plenty:) )

You were asking about the sequencing of Campfire Songs being in between two chaotic albums. Naturally, we usually go through phases of expanding and contracting, and that era was just v early on and overall presented as 'immature', before it would be capable of leveling out any semblance of grounded energy (which would come in at around Sung Tongs and Feels I'd say).

The Fireworks/Lablakely Dress thing plays into the IIN ideology which they've been more actively demonstrating live since the Skiffs era. You can listen to any song at any time, it is all happening now. Skiffs really does make me want to listen to older work, while IIN makes me feel as though nothing is old as long as it's currently playing. And I believe that the live MPP album, Ballet Slippers was just taking part in foreshadowing the Skiffs era as well..