Portland weird-rock duo AU have a new single called “Solid Gold” Coming out, and it’s a spazzily pretty bit of prog-pop, with Colin Stetson helping out on saxophone. Download it below.

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Au’s current official lineup remains Luke Wyland and Dana Valatka, but each excursion sounds like the work of much larger cast. See, for instance, “Ida Walked Away,” an escalating bit of falsetto-fronted art-pop from the Portland band’s forthcoming Versions EP. When I was talking about Au’s post-Verbs Christmas song, I mentioned that when they don’t sound like Animal Collective they can also approximate a snow or sleet storm (“one that’s all angles and the light refracted off a crystal”). You get that shimmer here, too, as well as an up-swinging tone that might make you think at least momentarily about “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (or some other large hairy mammals).

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When it doesn’t sound like Animal Collective, Au’s music often approximates a snow or sleet storm, but one that’s all angles and the light refracted off a crystal, so this picture of Luke Wyland and Dana Valatka out in the cold stuff is fitting in more ways than one for the Portland crew’s take on “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” The song comes from the holiday collection I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas, a digital-only compilation benefiting Amnesty International. It was organized by Force Field PR’s Daniel Gill and also stars Sally Shapiro, My Brightest Diamond, Le Loup, Au Revoir Simone, Bosque Brown, and (fittingly) Blitzen Trapper, etc. Au’s offering is kind of like burrowing into a snowdrift and discovering a euphoric hypothermia.

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The crapshoot buffet of 25 minute sets from overextended bands is now closed, thanks. When you’re out all day and all night, you encounter lots — some undercooked and unpalatable flller, some that’s ripe and right, lots never intended for consumption (CMJ set delays, so hott right now). We’ve posted some standouts already, but here are pics from a few more bands that made a mark, from an ever improving (and member of the Class Of The Overbooked @ CMJ) Takka Takka to a shot of Passion Pit‘s too-packed Pianos set, etc. Others in the spread include “Stuck On Repeat” siren/2008 pop fix Little Boots, the Forms (boasting a new keyboard-based lineup bringing their more ethereal elements to the fore), the conceptual and madcap genius of Reggie Watts (please see him), and the witty folk of the heartonastick-approved Emmy The Great. At Pianos, Bell killed with the help of her keytar and a drummer she should never let get away, and caUSE co-MOTION! followed with another of the fest’s finest, nailing down 30-minutes of snotty, kinetic reverbed pop songs.

The toughest act for me to catch was School Of Seven Bells, whose gauzy, (dancing)shoe-gazer dream pop was finally on display following a 75 minute delay at FADER Fort, after I’d already waited for an ultimately canceled set at Cake Shop a few days earlier. They only had time for three songs, but after all that hunting, I’m glad I saw ‘em; Ben Curtis’s new project with the On!AirILibrary! twins isn’t dangerous, but the trio’s doing it right with some great singles, a cute acronym (SVIIB), and an apparent love for strobe lights and black clothes. And that up there, that is a picture of Marnie Stern, who I caught three times this week (including our show) because she’s the shit and that’s all there is to it. Anyway! Just one pic per band here so it’s a quick scroll for anything short of a dialup. This marks the end of our CMJ 2008 recap, but stay tuned for a look at our five favorite sets from this year’s fest.

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This video for Au’s “RR vs. D” opens with a tiny crystal ball filled with golden flecks spinning in Michael Jackson’s hand and somehow ends up in this field, but the Verbs clip, directed by Rainbow Dropshadow (curiously, my nickname in high school), features a little girl in a red dress and shawl, not a bumblebee suit. Before long, when the song shifts, we enter a tripped-out constellation of colorful spinning tops. It’s like two videos in one (or at least two worlds in that one crystal ball).

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It’s fitting this new Au song’s called “Are Animals” because Luke Wyland & his band of Portland noisemakers do a pretty good Animal Collective impersonation on it. Then at 1:21 it shifts, breaking from that opening whiplash into the organ and horn-drenched experimental Americana we dig so much. The hoots and hollers remain but are filtered differently, becoming the song’s undertow, until we get some female soloing. Fair warning: If it sounds like you walked into the room after the party already got started it’s because along with “Are Animals” is the second part of a two-song suite (part the first is the airy, vocal and instrumental sacred choiring of “All My Friends”), which opens the band’s sophomore album Verbs. For all that, it does a mighty fine job of standing alone.

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Indie rock is doing amazing things in service of the parts of speech and grammar in general these days. Vampire Weekend is through with oxford commas, No Age is 100% pro Nouns, and now we learn Oregonian psych-folk troupe Au will be crusading on behalf of Verbs. It’s been awhile since that lucky promo-excavating day turned up the dual gems “Sum” and “Boute” from Luke Wyland’s Au (pronounced “Ay You,” in case you forgot) troupe about a year back. New tune “RR vs. D,” from the forthcoming Verbs LP shows Luke is perhaps weaning himself off the Animal Collective a bit, although not animals in general: after a first movement of handclaps, dirty projecting female vocals, and happy trilling pianos, “RR vs. D” becomes a big brassy trip to Ringling Bros.

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Another day, another Portland band. This one’s more of a guest-laden one-man project though; Au (say the letters, pronounce the name — Ay you) is the work of Luke Wyland, a multi-instrumental nomad who’s buckled down in Oregon and begun to hone his wandering, sprawling psych-folk. On “Sum,” Luke starts with bright, breezy bells and a throwaway ukulele spurt, before singer Zoë Wright starts with a gentle Concretes-ish vocal. At about 2:30, it sounds as though Animal Collective’s Geologist gets his manipulative mitts on the cut — which is to say, it begins to sound rather awesome.

Au – “Sum” (MP3)

More of a Grizzly Bear vibe to this one, particularly with Luke’s Droste-styled melody — though in the end it’s in line with “Sum”‘s sunny-day windstorms.

Au – “Boute” (MP3)

Au’s MySpace says “It once was just one, now it is three,” so we’re thinking live conspirators Jonathan Sielaff and Mark Kaylor are now official. Maybe. Anyway, Au is out 6/26 on Aagoo/Oedipus Records. And clearly, they’ve got their heads in the clouds about it.