FatCat Records. PO Box 3400, Brighton. BN1 4WG
Telephone: 01273 608 300
Fax: 01273 607 680
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
‘Sung Tongs’
CD / LP, Splinter Series, FAT-SP8 / FAT-SP08LP
Release Date: 3rd May, 2004 / 1stJune, 2004 (USA)
Barcodes: CD - 6 - 00116 - 12082 - 3
LP - 6 - 00116 - 12081 - 6
Tracklisting:
1. Leaf House
2. Who Could Win a Rabbit
3. The Softest Voice
4. Winters Love
5. Kids on Holiday
6. Sweet Road
7. Visiting Friends
8. College
9. We Tigers
10. Mouth Wooed Her
11. Good Lovin Outside
12. Whaddit I Done
Following an outstanding 2003, which included the release of 3 albums, a split 12” and separate tours with both múm and Four Tet, Animal Collective return with a stunning new album of modern folk pop for FatCat’s Splinter Series. Whilst restricted distribution and limited pressings has meant that previous releases have slipped somewhat under the radar, a serious buzz has been steadily building around the group and we believe that this album has the potential to make them really big news.
Listen in and you will hear traces of all manner of influence – from the crazed whooping and chanting of classic Holy Modal Rounders, to the pure and perfect songcraft of Simon & Garfunkel or The Beach Boys, to Syd Barrett, The Incredible String Band and the productions of Joe Boyd, to elements of the Brazilian tropicalia / pop psychedelia of artists like Gilberto Gil or Milton Nasciemento, or the more modern sonic explorations of friends and labelmates Black Dice or labels like Mego or Kompakt. The band’s tastes run far further than the merely experimental end of the spectrum, and they’ll be as happy discussing Destiny’s Child or The Neptunes as they would some hipper underground entity. But rather than simply forging or pastiching their inspirations, Animal Collective instead let their spirits melt into a fertile, creative vision that is passionately driven and distinctly their own. What results is an intoxicating blend that is unique, coherent, hugely addictive and simply quite unlike anything else around.
In this incarnation, Animal Collective is once again the duo of Avey tare and Panda Bear, and ‘Sung Tongs’ is their most perfect, accessible work to date, a luscious flowering and flowing together of deeply catchy, hook-filled songs and intricately textured arrangements. Built around the core elements of Avey and Panda’s gorgeous vocal harmonies and twin acoustic guitar strumming, the album has been lovingly worked through the studio to provide a rich and fully expansive mix of stunning sonic depth, detail and placement. Recorded in a house in rural Colorado, and engineered and mixed by Rusty Santos, ‘Sung Tongs’ is a dazzling, bold and adventurous pop album. Diverse in its scope and yet fully coherent, the album moves from chiming acoustic guitar songs to gentler, more dispersed picked ballads, to sprawling, guitar-swell psychedelics, bubbling, acid-warped vocal fx, and tribal, almost shamanic trance-outs based around around looping vocals and hypnotic kick-pulses…
Based in Brooklyn, Animal Collective are a hugely talented and creative, yet somewhat unpredictable and maverick entity. Friends and musical partners since 1992, core members Avey Tare and Panda Bear came together in 2000 with the intention of moving pop music in a new direction that would emphasize sonic experience. Soon after this, they began operating as Animal Collective, an umbrella name now used for a grouping of four people: Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deaken, who play together under different names and in different configurations (anything between 1 to 4 people), and whose releases are prone to continual musical change: from beautifully skewed pop ballads to fiercely ruptured noise-squalls to tribal rhythmic work-outs to simple folk songs; from fully orchestrated group freak-outs to a the intimacy of an acoustic duo.
Described by TimeOut NY as “the discovery of the year…”, the Collective’s first offering was a stunning collaboration between Avey Tare and Panda Bear called ‘Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished’, released on their own label (Animal) in August of 2000. Their second album, ‘Danse Manatee’ came out on Catsup Plate in July 2001. The sound here is augmented by the addition of Geologist (Brian Weitz), who contributes live electronics and incidental vocals. 2002 saw the release of a limited edition (300 copies), vinyl-only release on St.Ives (a sub-label of Secretly Canadian) called ‘Hollinndagain’, which was made up of live recordings from 2001. 2003 saw two further releases, ‘Campfire Songs’ - a collection of songs recorded live on a screened-in porch in rural Maryland, with the audible hum of the outdoors; and ‘Here Comes The Indian’ on Carpark’s Paw Tracks imprint label (which Animal Collective are running themselves), which gives an update on the electronic / noise / songs of ‘Danse Manatee’. In 2003, FatCat repackaged ‘Spirit…’ and ‘Danse…’ as a double CD, reissued to rave reviews, and also released 3 tracks from Avey Tare on one side of a split 12”.
As far as peers and influences go, aside from the aforementioned, Animal Collective’s sprawl could perhaps be located alongside fellow American contemporaries such as Black Dice; the freak-outs of ‘90s west coast isolationists like Caroliner and Sun City Girls; the minimalist post-techno structures and textures of Fennesz or Wolfgang Voigt; or back to '70’s European commune-music utopians like Amon Duül, Harvester, Can, and similar folk-psychedelic explorers; and with the organic looseness of the best of the free and improvised music world. But despite this, it is Animal Collective’s natural affinity with pop music that makes up the crux of their sound. Most of all, in whatever guise they assume, Animal Collective always manage to sound like noone but themselves – stunningly unique and resonating with the confidence of a deeply commited self-belief.
Animal Collective will tour Europe in April 2004, including two weeks supporting múm and several shows on their own (see dates below). Later in the year they will tour North America with Black Dice.
07/04 - Frankfurt TAT Theatre
08/04 - Paris, Cartier Foundation
13/04 – Ghent, Belgium - TBC
14/04 - Schorndorf, Manufaktur, Germany w/ múm
15/04 - Koln, Gebraude 9, Germany w/ múm
16/04 - Brussels, Ancienne Belgique, Belgium w/ múm
17/04 - Rotterdam, Motel Mozaique, Holland w/ múm
18/04 - Oslo, Random System Festival - TBC
20/04 - Heidelberg, Karlstorbahnhof, Germany w/ múm
22/04 - Brighton, Old Market, UK w/ múm
23/04 - Liverpool, Academy 2, UK w/ múm
24/04 - Oxford, Zodiac, UK w/ múm
25/04 - London, Old Vic Theatre, UK w/ múm
27/04 - Leeds, City Varieties, UK w/ múm
28/04 - Glasgow, Tramway, UK w/ múm
29/04 - Dublin, Vicar Street, Ireland w/ múm
30/04 - London, Coronet Theatre, w/ Four Tet, Fennesz, Papa M, Manitoba, etc.
01/05 - Aberdeen, Triptych Festival
02/05 - Edinburgh, Triptych Festival
03/05 - Bristol, TBC
04/05 - Brighton, Po Nan Na - TBC
06/05 - London, Buffalo Bar - TBC
For more info on this or other FatCat releases, please contact Marcus at the above address / numbers or via e-mail at .