Animal Collective - Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished

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NME.COM feature on Animal Collective - Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished album including album review, artwork, tracks, listen now, tour dates, discography and more.

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Release date: 06 October 2003

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Animal Collective - Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished: Wikipedia Album Entry

Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is the first album by Baltimore based band Animal Collective, released in August 2000 under the name Avey Tare and Panda Bear. The album was released as a CD on the band's own Animal label (now known as Paw Tracks); only a very limited amount of copies were made. It has since been re-released as a double CD along with Danse Manatee in 2003 on Fatcat Records. Now available on limited edition vinyl for the first time through FatCat Records. Both UK and US pressings will use DMM mastering with UK version being 180g, released on June 8, 2009. US version will not be 180g with release date TBA.

Background
All of the songs were written by Avey Tare (David Portner) from 1997 to 1999, except for "Penny Dreadfuls" which was written when he was 16 years old. Portner and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) recorded the acoustic guitar and the drums live onto a Tascam 48 1/2 inch eight-track reel-to-reel in Portner's bedroom in Maryland during the summer of 1999. The piano songs along with overdubs were recorded in Portner's parents' living room. Portner wanted the guitar to be "jangled to create this fluttering feeling".

An old Roland SH-2 synthesizer, which Brian Weitz' brother found stored in a camp, was used for the bass sounds. The drums were played with brushes to emulate the albums Ocean Rain and Forever Changes. Avey Tare would dictate what he wanted the rhythm to be through beatboxing. Other sounds, such as the majority of "Spirit They've Vanished", were created through the use of feedback loops.

Artwork
The original cover art was found by Avey who thought that it fit nicely. The album was intended to be released under Avey Tare's name alone, but he was so impressed by Panda Bear's drumming that he added Panda's name on the front cover. This method of choosing monikers for Animal Collective's recorded output—naming themselves after who played on each respective album—would last until 2003's Campfire Songs.

Included with the original release was an insert with the following story:

“ Not long ago a young boy named Avey and his friend Panda Bear roamed the patch work which covers the land (some call it forest). They were looked upon by Pan and raised by fairies and the Angels of light who play deep within the Wood. 'Let's make the music of childhood,' Avey shouted one day as the two played. Panda thought this idea was a good one. 'I can use my magical Rhythm sticks and you can play your Sun harp,' he said. So the two began to create melodies and Panda brought rhythms from every direction while Avey sang. All of the songs were about wooden toys and invisible friends and filled with the light of the forest. This is the first group of songs they played.

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