Animal Collective Biography

Animal Collective is a Baltimore-based experimental pop band. Formed in 2003, it consists of David Portner (Avey Tare), Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), Brian Weitz (Geologist), and Josh Dibb (Deakin).

Early Years

The band began to take shape while Portner and Weltz were only fifteen. Later on, they started the band Automine, together with Brendan Fowler and David Shpritz. After Lennox met David and Brian, the three of them played several times with Dibb while working on their solo projects.

One of the first materials to be released is the album Campfire Songs. Their next release was named Here Comes the Indian (2002). They went on a tour to support this album, facing numerous hardships that would threaten the band’s future.

Further Career

Follow-up albums like Feels or Strawberry Jam were critically acclaimed. Their experimental nature showed a real evolution by Animal Collective. Between the releases of the studio albums Merriweather Post Pavilion and Centipede Hz, the band also issued the visual album ODDSAC. The singles “FloriDada”, “Lying in the Grass” and “Golden Gal” were part of the 2016 album Painting With.

“We thought about the way that people process music and talked to people at shows. It seems like the first impression you have of a song is really lasting. It colours what happens after that,” Lennox said to Consequence of Sound.

Photo credit: NPR Music