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The resulting album comes across, for the most part, as a peaceful, relaxing—if extremely weird—trip through a newfound musical slipstream.

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musicOMH.com

This release was unusual for the band in that it was accompanied with the lyrics in the liner notes, however, so the words that are sung, muttered, chanted and whispered are available if needed, on this most beguiling, dream-like and ultimately just-out-of-reach release.

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Pitchfork

Beyond its canonical interest, Campfire Songs has its own charms. Though rigorously composed, it feels deceptively spontaneous. The atmosphere is both inviting and severe, and startlingly vivid.

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PopMatters

In several ways, Campfire Songs is an album that invites the listener to sit as close as possible and to join the circle. The album gets more uniquely intimate with each listen.

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All Music Guide

While Campfire Songs isn’t nearly as dense or kinetic as Animal Collective’s later work would be, it shows off their penchant for layered harmony and experimental song structures, which makes for a fine piece of atmospheric headphone listening.

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Mojo

The strung-out meanderings of Doggy or De Soto De Son veer equally toward indulgent and the cosmic. [Feb 2010, p.112]

Q Magazine

Slight by comparison with 2009's "Merriweather Post Pavilion," but not without it's own charm. [Feb 2010, p.116]

Rolling Stone

The five tracks on this 42-minute LP were conceived not as bonfire singalongs but as music that might mystically emanate from the crackling blaze itself. It works.

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Drowned In Sound

The 2003 Campfire Songs EP - re-released here in both CD and digital format - is at once an intriguing, beguiling and ultimately frustrating record. For a band certainly not averse to a little sonic experimentation, Campfire Songs remains Animal Collective’s most ambitious statement to date.

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Uncut

Long stretches of listless strumming may test your patience, but the reward is the gorgeous psychedelic folk reverie of 11-minute closer "Do Soto De Son," as hypnotically lovely as anything that they've laid down since. [Feb 2010, p.79]

Under The Radar

It was recorded live on a porch in Maryland, and which only serves to remind listeners how frustrating the band can be. Of course, the flip side of this is how far they've come. [Holiday 2009, p.80]

Prefix Magazine

This isn’t some lost early album that is as good as the new stuff; Campfire Songs might be the weakest entry in Animal Collective’s catalog. The album is the aural document of a young band blowing 45 minutes on a porch and hoping in vain for some kind of transcendent musical revelation.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes

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