OUT FRIDAY ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCE REISSUE OF DEBUT ALBUM SPIRIT THEY’RE GONE, SPIRIT THEY’VE VANISHED

admin|May 9, 2023

Animal Collective will reissue their very first record Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, outthis Friday, May 12th on Domino. Originally released in a very small CD-only pressing on their own Animal label in August 2000 and credited to Avey Tare & Panda Bear prior to the full, collective band name being used on releases, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished has been praised by Vulture for its “starry-eyed sense of songcraft” and described by Pitchfork as “a masterful piece of electro-acoustic fairy-tale music; yet its squealing electronics, and vitrified rhythms suggest something darker. Like a Snickers bar with a razorblade in it.”

The reissue features remastered audio, new artwork by Abby and Dave Portner, and the A Night at Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Supermarket EP, which contains five previously unreleased tracks, including a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” that were recorded from the same era and mixed by Animal Collective’s Deakin. The remastered album will be available physically on standard 2xLP, and an expanded edition containing the EP will be available digitally and physically via deluxe 3xLP & 2xCD formats. Pre-order: Dom Mart | Digital

In March, the band shared two songs – “Chocolate Girl (Remastered 2023)” and the never-before-released “Untitled 1.”

Watch the “Chocolate Girl (Remastered 2023)” visualizer here.

Watch the “Untitled 1” visualizer here.

Chiming laments for a childhood’s end, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished opens with the phrase “want to hear a secret, I know one,” suggesting these secrets just might be buried deep within the flocks of high frequencies, electronic glitches, bleeps and swells that follow. The duo’s approach is similar to Love’s (circa Forever Changes), with Avey Tare’s picked acoustic guitar flowing in perfect syncopation with Panda Bear’s tumbling drum kit. But the layers of tonal and atonal electronics that fatten the thinner pulse of the songwriter’s vision make this album resemble something closer to modern electronic composition. The songs range from speedy patchwork pieces to slower piano melodies, a somehow coherent yet very fragile brand of psychedelic music – their grasp of pop hooks and dynamics being counterbalanced by a love of noise / friction and musical anarchy; their songs wavering on the tightrope between deeply affecting beauty and unrestrained chaos. Whilst the band have gone on to rightfully become one of the most name-dropped and influential groups of the past two decades, this debut effort reminds us of where they came from and remains a truly stunning and unique album.

Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished (Remastered 2023)

1. Spirit They’ve Vanished (Remastered 2023)

2. April And The Phantom (Remastered 2023)

3. Untitled (Remastered 2023)

4. Penny Dreadfuls (Remastered 2023)

5. Chocolate Girl (Remastered 2023)

6. Everyone Whistling (Remastered 2023)

7. La Rapet (Remastered 2023)

8. Bat You’ll Fly (Remastered 2023)

9. Someday I’ll Grow To Be As Tall As The Giant (Remastered 2023)

10. Alvin Row (Remastered 2023)