A quick look at the cover of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion immediately lets you know what to expect for the next hour of listening. The simplistic design seems to ripple across its surface, while staying completely stationary at the same time. Never before has an album’s packaging represented its inner contents so well.

Like previous Animal Collective releases, Merriweather Post Pavilion is full of music not heard on the radio, nor heard in any moderately-trendy club. The music contained within demands to be listened to, not simply heard. For the casual listener, this might present somewhat of a problem as the record’s beauty is not immediate. Rather, its charm depends on its subtlety. The songs on Merriweather Post Pavilion build slowly and often the true elegance of a track takes minutes to fully reveal itself to the listener.

The album is akin to a relationship, where the more you truly listen the more you get out of it. Fittingly enough, the album focuses on these relationships, be them shared or personal, and also dabbles in existentialism. While this lyrical content might seem simple on the surface, time reveals the complexity of feelings. At a time when enthusiasm has given way to bitter irony, the band manages to relay their overt sentimentality with extreme confidence. As a result, the band creates a universal connection with anyone who allows themselves to be enveloped by the music.

While the band has reduced itself down to a threesome for this release—as Josh “Deakin” Dibbs is taking a leave of absence—the remaining members work together in perfect harmony. Songwriters Dave “Avey Tare” Portner and Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox function on the same page and find a perfect musical backdrop provided by Brian “Geologist” Weitz, who covers samples and electronic manipulation for the band. While past Animal Collective releases have either been slanted towards the works of one particular songwriter, Panda Bear and Avey Tare’s contrasting styles compliement themselves fully on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Panda Bear’s straightforward melodies and fuzzy dreaminess seem to drone out and swallow the listener, while Avey Tare’s more traditional pop structure, with its clear bridges and snappy choruses, brings the listener into focus.

While Merriweather Post Pavilion might be less accessible than the group’s 2005 album Feels, it ultimately earns its spot as the band’s strongest release to date. One of the album’s more obvious moments, the track “My Girls,” grows from a synth-sprinkled half-speed introduction into a booming pop wall of sound, complete with handclaps and deep bass, intertwined with wispy West Coast harmonies and dreams of a hippy utopia. While lines like “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like my social status/ I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls” might seem laughable in any other hands, they’re backed by such rich harmonies and strong emotions that they demand respect.

But there are moments where Merriweather Post Pavilion falters. The track “Daily Routine,” reminiscent of the band’s earlier work, draws on its awkward organ mid-tempo breaks far too often, before eventually redeeming itself with a long droney coda that ascends into the crushing bliss of shoegaze. And, as with their other releases, the band will at times sacrifice their music’s listenability with experimental noise that can often times be off-putting. Fortunately, the album as a whole is far strong enough to forgive these few minor downfalls.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is an interesting mix, with music blatantly created by a machine managing to still find itself firmly rooted in humanity. It’s this struggle, with the progression towards the idea of the future remaining tied to the past, and the tension that this creates, that gives the music its power. However, this power can only be conveyed through the listening experience; 30-second iTunes soundbites aren’t going to cut it here, they’ll just leave you walking away unimpressed and underwhelmed. However, if the album is consumed as a whole, you’ll discover the kind of band rock music needs right now: a band that makes music for music lovers.