Five Years Since Forward Motion Godyessy, Chicago Psych-Rockers, Post Animal Wield More Than Iron With Their New Album
Label: Polyvinyl
Released: July 25, 2025
By Liam Owen
What makes for a meaningful and long-lasting friendship? It isn’t enough to just share similar interests or enjoy mutual activities.The mark of true companionship involves people advocating and embracing each other at their most vulnerable, creating an open and collaborative environment rife with potential energy. Throw six bandmates who haven’t recorded together in nearly a decade into the Indiana woods for a few weeks, and conditions are created that temper a bond into steel. Iron, the Chicago psychedelic rock band Post Animal’s fourth LP, is the proof; at times zany and other times sentimental, the record is not only “the embodiment of their renewed and ironclad connection,” but a sprawling night out with friends that evolves into an unforgettable legend.
Every song on the tracklist bares the soul and free-spiritedness of their designers, with each band member bringing their own ideas and taking turns on lead vocals. At seemingly random intervals, a scream or bizarre clang interrupts the otherwise easy-going picnic vibe. In “Last Goodbye,” the band fuses country-esque instrumentation and guitar solos with a poppy sound that is simultaneously comforting and cathartic. Songs like “Pie in the Sky” and “Dorien Kregg” can be spontaneous and silly as if they were done by Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. There is a consistent motif of voicemails that are peppered throughout the brief 37-minute run that mostly all request the recipient to call them back, harking to the importance of periodically returning to and sustaining the connections you have in your life.
It is the final and titular song of the record that lingered with me most. Combining the quiet reflections of The 1975 with a John Lennon chorus, the track broods with low piano and vocal notes along with deep synths until it blossoms into a repeated refrain: “I’ll take what I can get.” That line remained in my head even as the album stopped playing, not just because the melody is infectious, but because it encapsulates the record’s heart. We all “take what we can get” with regard to spending time with people that we love; even if it’s only for a little while, these moments are what rejuvenate life and renew our spirits. To the listener’s delight, Post Animal was able to use their moment to create a blissful and inspired album.