Line #36 Music/AnimalCollective


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tSeemWell_1409.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Left to right: Deakin (bottom), Avey Tare (top), Geologist, Music/PandaBear]]
3	[floatboxright:Influences: Music/TheGratefulDead, Music/TheBeachBoys, Music/{{Pavement}}, Sun City Girls, The Incredible String Band, Music/AphexTwin, Music/TheResidents, Black Dice]
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5	Animal Collective is an experimental rock band founded in Baltimore in 2000. Its lineup consists of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz), who have known each other since childhood and began to experiment with mind-altering drugs and psychedelic music in high school.
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8	Because of the band's stance as a "collective", not every member of the band appears on every album (for example, Deakin is absent on ''Music/MerriweatherPostPavilion'' and ''Painting With'', Geologist doesn't appear on ''Campfire Songs'' and only Avey Tare and Panda Bear perform on ''Sung Tongs''). Panda Bear has released six solo albums since 1998, and Avey Tare has three of his own. Deakin has toured with solo material of his, and released a solo album of his own in 2016.
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10	Their music has kept psychedelic influences, but their hit album ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'' has made it more accessible to a mainstream audience without changing much of their overall sound.
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12	!!Discography:
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14	* ''Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished'' (2000), as Avey Tare and Panda Bear
15	* ''Danse Manatee'' (2001), as Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist
16	* ''Hollinndagain'' (2002), as Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist (live album)
17	* ''Campfire Songs'' (2003), as Campfire Songs
18	* ''Ark''[[note]] Initially released as ''Here Comes the Indian'', but renamed under its' original working title in 2020 in light of many race-related protests.[[/note]] (2003)
19	* ''Sung Tongs'' (2004)
20	* ''Prospect Hummer'' (2004) EP
21	* ''Feels'' (2005)
22	* ''People'' (2006) EP
23	* ''Strawberry Jam'' (2007)
24	* ''Water Curses'' (2008) EP
25	* ''Music/MerriweatherPostPavilion'' (2009)
26	* ''Animal Crack Box'' (2009) (live album)
27	* ''Fall Be Kind'' (2009) EP
28	* ''ODDSAC'' (2010) (A 55-minute "visual album")
29	* ''Centipede [=Hz=]'' (2012)
30	* ''Painting With'' (2016)
31	* ''The Painters'' (2017) EP
32	* ''Meeting of the Waters'' (2017) EP
33	* ''Tangerine Reef'' (2018)
34	* ''Bridge To Quiet'' (2020) EP
35	* ''Crestone'' (2021) (Movie soundtrack)
36	* ''Time Skiffs'' (2022)
37	* ''Isn't It Now?'' (2023)
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40	!!Animal Collective displays the following tropes:
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42	* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Averted. Panda Bear is easily the shyest and most introverted member of the band.
43	* AntiLoveSong: A few songs on ''Feels'' are this, primarily "Banshee Beat".
44	* BenevolentMonsters: The couple in the "Peacebone" video. They're both quite scary-looking (the male monster especially so), but the video shows them going on wholesome dates where the worst thing they do is tee-pee a house.
45	* BrokenRecord: "Brother Sport" from ''Merriweather Post Pavillion'' is probably the most extreme example of this, as EVERY section of the song consists of this but overall, heavy repetition of some phrase(s) is quite a defining characteristic of their songwriting. Other notable examples include just about any song from ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'', "We Tigers" from ''Sung Tongs'', "For Reverend Green" and "Chores" from ''Strawberry Jam'', "What Would I Want? Sky" from ''Fall Be Kind'', etc.
46	* CarefulWithThatAxe: "Grass" has this in the chorus.
47	** A lot of their early music falls into this, in particular "We Tigers".
48	** Let's not forget about the bridge in "Peacebone".
49	** "For Reverend Green", anyone?
50	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6dngRhr5Q She ran out of nature...she ran out of naTEEYA!]]
51	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPIDId7WQI Don't believe that pilot! Don't believe that pilot! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!]]
52	* CoverVersion: They've occasionally done this in live performances, most notably in Purple Bottle, with some live performances of "The Purple Bottle" featuring both "I Bid You Goodnight" by The Grateful Dead as an introduction and "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Music/StevieWonder as a bridge.
53	** The B-side of "The Purple Bottle" white-label single features a cover of "Polly" by Music/{{Nirvana}}.
54	** On the ''Painting With'' tour, [[spoiler: the boys cover a Motown-era hit, "Jimmy Mack" by Martha and the Vandellas]].
55	* DaydreamSurprise: Alluded to in "What Would I Want? Sky".
56	* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Counterexample - they don't really care about the leaking of their albums, but they get quite upset when (like in the case of ''Strawberry Jam'') only a handful of songs were leaked at a time and fans couldn't get the full album experience.
57	* DistinctDoubleAlbum: The ''Animal Crack Box'' is a distinct ''triple'' album.
58	* DroneOfDread: "Two Sails on a Sound" from ''Ark'' and the live-only song "Tuvin" both exemplify this trope.
59	** ''Fall Be Kind'''s "Bleed" also qualifies.
60	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Anything before they settled on the name Animal Collective. ''Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished'' was essentially an Avey Tare solo album with Panda Bear supplying drums, while ''Danse Manatee'' and ''Campfire Songs'' are both just plain ''weird''.
61	** As is ''Ark'', the style of which can probably be best described as "lo-fi neo-psychedelic ambient electroacoustic NightmareFuel Literature/{{Lord Of The Flies}} jams."
62	** Before officially forming Animal Collective, Avey, Deakin and Geologist were all part of a band called Automine that sounded closer to Music/{{Pavement}} or {{slowcore}} compared to anything they would do later. Panda's self-titled first solo album, released before the band was officially formed, was a bizarre minimalist electroacoustic pop album that was a complete departure from the Music/BrianWilson inspired songwriting he adopted for the band and his solo records.
63	* EpicRocking: They have several examples. From their albums:[[note]]2016's ''Painting With'' was the first to not contain any examples.[[/note]]
64	** ''Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished'': Penny Dreadfuls (7:58), Chocolate Girl (8:28), La Rapet (7:52), and Alvin Row (12:39). These four songs take up around half of the album's runtime.
65	** ''Danse Manatee'': Meet the Light Child (8:44), The Living Toys (7:48), and Ahhh Good Country (8:18).
66	** ''Hollinndagain'': I See You Pan (10:24) and Pride and Fight (11:24).
67	** ''Campfire Songs'': Queen in My Pictures (9:58), Moo Rah Rah Rain (11:01), and De Soto de Son (11:34). The album itself was recorded in one non-stop take, and all the tracks are either SiameseTwinSongs or utilize FadingIntoTheNextSong, so the album could be seen as one giant 42:11 song.
68	** ''Ark'': Infant Dressing Table (8:35), Two Sails on a Sound (12:20), and Too Soon (6:27).
69	** ''Sung Tongs'': The Softest Voice (6:46) and Visiting Friends (12:36).
70	** ''Feels'': The Purple Bottle (6:48), Banshee Beat (8:22), Daffy Duck (7:34), and Turn Into Something (6:29).
71	** ''Strawberry Jam'': For Reverend Green (6:34) and Fireworks (6:50). Those two songs are also SiameseTwinSongs, so they can be said to form a single 13:24 medley.
72	** ''Merriweather Post Pavillion'': Brother Sport barely counts at exactly 6:00.
73	** ''Centipede Hz'': New Town Burnout (6:01) and Monkey Riches (6:46)
74	** The ''Bridge To Quiet'' EP consists only of this.
75	** ''Time Skiffs'': Prester John (6:29), Strung With Everything (6:56) and Cherokee (7:50).
76	** ''Isn't It Now?'': Soul Capturer (6:08), Genies Open (7:53), Magicians from Baltimore (9:27) and Defeat (21:58). The latter takes up over a third of the album.
77	* EverythingIsAnInstrument
78	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Their song "Graze" fades into "What Would I Want? Sky" off their ''Fall Be Kind'' EP, half of everything on ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'' fades into the next song, and "Winter Wonderland" fades into "Cuckoo Cuckoo" on ''Strawberry Jam.'' Actually, they're just fond of this trope in general.
79	** All of their concerts for the past few years have had crossfades between songs, as well.
80	* FracturedFairyTale: The ''Who Could Win a Rabbit'' [[SurrealMusicVideo video]], which starts off as a retelling of [[Literature/AesopsFables The Tortoise and the Hare]] using creepy animal costumes, and ends with [[spoiler: the tortoise killing and graphically eating the hare]].
81	* IntercourseWithYou: "Essplode", "Grass" and especially "Good Lovin' Outside".
82	* LastNoteNightmare: "Who Could Win A Rabbit" ends with about twenty seconds of...really weird looped gurgling noises. The music video makes it [[{{ImAHumanitarian}} so much worse]].
83	* LiveAlbum: ''Hollinndagain'', unusual in that it contains only material that hasn't appeared on other albums, with the exception of "Lablakely Dress" from ''Danse Manatee''.
84	* LyricalDissonance: Averted or subverted. Played straight on ''Danse Manatee'' and ''Campfire Songs'', however.
85	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: The dancer from "In the Flowers".
86	* MeaningfulRename: The band's first proper album ''Here Comes The Indian'' was renamed ''Ark'' in 2020 due to the band's admittance that the album drew a lot of inspiration from indigenous culture, and the title objectified Native Americans. While ''Ark'' was a working title for the album, there is also symbolism due to the fact that [[NoahsStoryArc an ark is where the animals went before the storm]].
87	* MelismaticVocals: "Leaf House" from their album ''Sung Tongs'' could be considered a particularly strange example of this.
88	* MinimalisticCoverArt: The cover of ''Merriweather Post Pavilion''. It's an illusory-motion graphic.
89	** The covers for "Campfire Songs," "Danse Manatee," "Hollindagain," and "Fall Be Kind" also qualify.
90	* NewSoundAlbum: '''Every single album''' of theirs does this.
91	* OldShame: Averted. The band is actually quite fond of their abrasive early work.
92	* OnlyInFlorida: "[=FloriDada=]" was inspired by this perception of Florida.
93	* PrecisionFStrike: Animal Collective songs very rarely contain swear words, so when they do it sounds weird and out of place. "Kinda Bonkers", "Essplode", "On A Highway"
94	* RedOniBlueOni: Avey and Panda, at least in terms of vocal delivery. Compare Avey's energetic, often unhinged style to Panda's more subdued, Music/BrianWilson-esque approach.
95	* {{Sampling}}: Most notably on What Would I Want? Sky, which samples "Unbroken Chain" by The Grateful Dead - "Willow sky/Woah, I walk and wonder why" becomes the eponymous phrase after some smart cutting-up, but there are also several other instances in their discography.
96	** Music/PandaBear's "Person Pitch", the most successful solo record by any member of the band, is heavily based on sampling as well.
97	* SillyLoveSongs: The first half of ''Feels'', with most of the second half being [[SubduedSection understated]] [[BreakupSong breakup songs]]. Springs back with "Turn Into Something".
98	* SingingSimlish: All over ''Ark.''
99	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: "Wide Eyed" from ''Centipede Hz'' features Deakin on lead vocals.
100	* SubduedSection: The latter half of their album ''Feels''.
101	** No More Running from Merriweather Post Pavilion definitely counts as this, bringing the album to its most subdued point, right before Brother Sport closes it.
102	* SurrealMusicVideo: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7GZLRxVzvg Water Curses]]" especially, but all of their videos qualify.
103	** Among the weirdest are those for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvGHQHiY70 Peacebone]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQjyGT1-mc Brother Sport]]".
104	** ODDSAC is essentially 55 minutes of this.
105	** Let's not forget "Today's Supernatural" or "Summertime Clothes".
106	* TextlessAlbumCover: ''Very'' common with the more recent albums. Beginning with ''Strawberry Jam'', each album since has followed this trend.
107	* UncommonTime:
108	** "Lion in a Coma" off ''MPP'' is in 9/8 time.
109	** "What Would I Want? Sky" off of their ''Fall Be Kind'' EP is in 7/8 time.
110	** "I Think I Can" from the same EP is in 9/8, with a section of 6/8.
111	** One of the best examples of this trope is "Who Could Win A Rabbit" off of ''Sung Tongs''. It's based in 3/4, but randomly jumps around to 4/4 and has a 5/4 bridge.
112	*** That same album also has "Sweet Road", which has choruses in 6/8 and verses in ''13/8''.
113	** They seem to be fond of 3/4 time.
114	*** 3/4 isn't too odd; their fetish for polyrhythms is, however.
115	** Most of "For Reverend Green" is in 7/4[[note]]Or 14/8[[/note]], though the drum beat hangs on 2/4.
116	** While it's still technically is 4/4, the syncopation of the drums on ''Did You See The Words'' is mad and rather difficult to count along to.
117	* WordSaladLyrics: Avey Tare has described the lyrics of "Peacebone" as not being so much about a particular meaning but more "blending together visual images". In general, most of their lyrics seem to be more about the imagery or conveying certain feelings than making sense as a narrative.

Context Music / AnimalCollective