There are mushrooming swooshes of sound — rich sonic blooms that deepen in vibrancy and slowly dissipate into more pastel nuance — that will always conjure up the precocious studio wizardry of the Beach Boys’ damaged genius, Brian Wilson. The Beach Boys were always renowned for their vocal harmonies, of course, but if that’s all it was they’d have been indistinguishable from, say, the Everly Brothers or the Four Seasons.

Wilson and Beatles’ producer George Martin provided an orchestral grandeur to pop music that was refined by folks like Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, to the point where the soundscape was the substance as well as the context for the songs. The musicians in the Baltimore quartet Animal Collective have always been kindred spirits to this sort of music-making, but on their eighth release, “Meriweather Post Pavilion,” they tumble into with full delirium. It is at once their most experimental and most accessible release, one certain to rank among the best records of 2009. Animal Collective’s vocals obviously can’t match the depth of the Beach Boys, but otherwise this is what Wilson might have put out in the '60s had he access to the digital acoustic advancements of the 21st century.

There is dynamism here in terms of both pace and volume. "MPP" manages to evoke both the frenetic, twitchy gush of "raves" and techno, and the shambling, spooled out patience of jam bands like the Grateful Dead and Phish. There are shimmering holding patterns full of busy, interlocking beats of varying textures that are themselves sufficient — and then the swooshes are added. Feedback looms in and out, percussion rattles, voices gently relate narratives or yearn in harmony.

I don’t know how all this gets re-created in concert, but those lucky enough to score a ducat to tonight’s sold-out show at First Avenue will find out. Meanwhile, you can catch the flavor of the band at Animal Collective’s MySpace page, see them play one of the best songs from "MPP" on Letterman here or catch the group at last year’s Coachella Festival performing "My Girls" from the new album here.

Animal Collective at First Avenue. Tonight, all ages show. Doors open at 6 p.m. $17. Sold out.