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Album Details

• Artist: Animal Collective
• Album: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
• Label: Fat Cat
• Year of Release: 2000
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: challey on 2005-01-10

Animal Collective is an odd group. There isn't anyone who sounds just like them; that is something that's hard to say in times like these. The group, comprised of guitarist Avey Tare and drummer Panda Bear, takes simple pop melodies and fuses them with a mixture of folk, electronics, and ear-splitting noise, yet the result is beautiful. Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (packaged alongside Danse Manatee in a double disc set) may just be their best showcasing of mixing the genres thus far, even when compared to 2004's brilliant Sung Tongs.

From the opening track "Spirit They've Vanished," it's clear that the group isn't for everyone. Simple, Beatles-esque melodies are buried beneath five minutes of eardrum-piercing feedback that seems to be at a frequency that someone might think only dogs could hear. It sounds like an experimental failure, but to those who don't mind that kind of sound, it works. The following track, "April and the Phantom," combines a few basic guitar chords with odd time signatures and a mixture of screaming and beautiful singing, and it all comes together to be the highlight of the album.

Other tracks are a little more simple. "Chocolate Girl" and "La Rapet" both have normal melodies drowned in children-song sounding keyboards. "Someday I'll Grow to be as Tall as the Giant" sounds very similar to today's neo-folk scene, but with distorted vocals that were recorded underwater. It's weird, but very creative and unique.

After a few albums, Animal Collective have still yet to disappoint. Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is a little less layered than anything they've put out, but has a greater focus on keyboards and electronics than either Sung Tongs or Here Comes the Indian. Overall, it's a nearly flawless album, and definitely worth checking out for anyone who is interested in them.

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