Informed in equal parts by acid-fried psychosis, crop-circle field recordings, and an elephants-on-the-loose circus thrash aesthetic, Animal Collective's fourth full-length album rests roughly at the meeting point between psychedelic, noise, and folk music. Here Comes the Indian begins gently enough with "Native Belle," a moody set piece that belies the album's clatter with 12 minutes of constrained rhythmic builds, drones, and squeaks. Things quickly explode with the searing "Hey Light," a lightning bolt of electrocuted brass and human wails that sends the album careening into psychoactive delirium. Since everything that follows -- from the shrieking brattle of "Two Sails on a Sound" to the enchanted tribal vocal exercises of "Slippi" to the slow-building celebratory scuttle of "Too Soon" -- feels similarly crazed, drug-induced, and apparitional, Here Comes the Indian makes for particularly lucid listening. Brash, crass, and texturally magnificent, this is well worth seeking out. ~ Mark Pytlik, All Music Guide
Here Comes The Indian is the fourth studio album by Baltimore-based band Animal Collective, released on June 17, 2003. According to members of the Collective, the album was made in a time in which their relationships with each other were strained and complicated, and they have called this the record on which they all "rock out". This was also the first album to bear the name Animal Collective; before Indian, they had chosen to credit themselves according to who played on each album.
Here Comes the Indian is the first release on which all four members of the group perform together, although, on their previous release, Campfire Songs, Geologist was present for the recording.
The album was recorded live in three days. Avey Tare played his guitar through an Ibanezdelay rack and Bosspitch shifter/delay pedal to create a doubled, fuller sound, since he was the only one playing guitar at the time. The group also took turns processing sounds through various effects, such as a Roland SH-2 synthesizer and a vocoder. Avey and Panda Bear later recorded the vocals at Avey's house onto MiniDisc, then added them in like electronic sounds along with piano loops that Avey had made. Mixing of the album lasted between three to four days.
Track listing
"Native Belle" – 3:52
"Hey Light" – 5:41
"Infant Dressing Table" – 8:35
"Panic" – 4:48
"Two Sails on a Sound" – 12:20
"Slippi" – 2:49
"Too Soon" – 6:27
"Ark" Early Mix
An early mix of the album could be found on the internet (although not commercially available). Most of the vocals had not been added yet. The guitar was more prominent, and track order was different, with different transitions between songs. [1]
