Animal Collective - Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (Remastered)

Album Review

May 12

This reissue is full of nostalgia and a new clarity in the mix that reminds listeners of why they fell in love with the whacky playfulness of Animal Collective in the first place, all those years ago.

Animal Collective's debut album, Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, has been remastered after nearly 23 years since its release in 2000.

This first collection of tracks was written by frontman and founder Avey Tare (Dave Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) on drums. The pair of close friends captured childhood nostalgia, invincibility, bouts of complex brooding, and exhilarating explorations of the infinite pool of creative possibilities manifest in the form of droning, avant-garde eccentricity.

It's difficult to envision a mere 16-year-old conceptualizing an assemblage of such outside-the-box melodies and song structures, but this feat is precisely what foreshadowed Animal Collective's great success.

The newly mastered Spirit They're Gone reminds listeners of the band's roots, now a household name in experimental pop tunes. Avey Tare and Panda Bear were later accompanied by childhood companions Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz) in 2003 when the group officially became a 4-piece band. What has come since is a whirlwind of radically strange and deliriously beautiful sonic artworks.

A subtle clarity to old tracks can be found in the details of this reissue, allowing day-one fans to discover new elements that the previously muddled debut kept secret in its chaotic, cluttered spaces. Fans who gravitated to AC from their beginnings found solace and inspiration in the quirky juxtapositions of hopefulness and melancholia.

Animal Collective die-hards tend not to be impressed by music that is conventionally pleasing to the ear, so the opportunity to dig further into the collective mind of the four-piece is one that well-versed fans will lovingly accept.

Listening to the remaster repeatedly (just as we once did back in 2000) uncovers hints and surprises intended for those who listen deeply. The psychedelic, noisy journey through the memories of decades past brings fans through an emotional and strange voyage, highlighting the hauntingly beautiful, whacky contemplative energy AC has reliably captured over the last ten or so albums.

"Chocolate Girl" stands out as Avey's vocals break through the noise - a vibrant bassline cuts through the clashing of Panda Bear's work behind the kit, the mix offering a kaleidoscopic retreat. "La Rapet" shines as Avey's lush vocals paint a dark story of inevitable death.

"The birds are calling for you; please don't follow," repeats over and over, fading out into the darkness.

Favorites like "Bat You'll Fly" and "Alvin Row" deliver high-pitch frequencies - dizzying, meditative, and reminiscent of youthful chaos, the excitement of achieving an auditory depiction of the fleeting, entropic energy of being naive, curious, and compelled to the weird.

This remaster of Spirit They're Gone is accompanied by an EP entitled, A Night at Mr. Raindrop's Holistic Supermarket. The EP is a collection of previously unreleased tracks from the same era of AC that Spirit came from.

The first track of the EP, "An An Angel," seems to be the initial demo for "La Rapet." It included eerily colorful and childlike elements, including, well, baby sounds that many will agree were fortunately discarded from the final version of "La Rapet." Absorbing what eventually evolved into "La Rapet" brings fans closer to Avey Tare's writing process and forges an intimate connection point to the artist's younger self, the mind behind what has come to be a remarkable, prolific career of creating unique tunes.

"Bus Travel New York Tare My Face Off pt. 1" is a peaceful ride, grounded amid ethereality, equipped with strange, unexpected samples halfway through the piece, devolving from something serene and elegant into a disruptive and odd nightmare, complete with screeching, uneasy synths.

The next noteworthy track on the EP is a seemingly out-of-place cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams."

Avey Tare's nonchalant vocals meet drippy textures in the surrounding frequencies reminiscent of something from Homeshake's Midnight Snack. The EP comes to a close with the serene "Bus Travel New York Tare My Face Off pt. 2" in a beautiful track that feels something like sitting alone on a bus, gazing out the window and witnessing the world as it passes by; as the 23 years behind us are marked in time.

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