Book Animal Collective

Animal Collective are the experimental pop band from Baltimore County, Maryland, whose 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavilion reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 and shaped the sound of independent music for the following decade. The group is built around four friends who met in school and began recording together as teenagers: David Portner, known as Avey Tare; Noah Lennox, or Panda Bear; Brian Weitz, or Geologist; and Josh Dibb, or Deakin. In 1999 they founded their own label, Paw Tracks, which issued their debut, Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (2000), as well as music by other artists. Here Comes the Indian, the Shortlist Music Prize-nominated Sung Tongs and Feels drew on psychedelia, freak folk and noise, and Strawberry Jam (2007) became their first album to reach the Billboard 200. Merriweather Post Pavilion, with "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes," set loops, sampling and layered vocal harmonies against bright psychedelic pop. They have since released Centipede Hz (2012), Painting With (2016), Time Skiffs (2022) and Isn't It Now? (2023), while Panda Bear and Avey Tare also record solo. Their concerts are known for new material, immersive visuals and constantly shifting arrangements.