Earlier this week, Animal Collective caused a massive amount of hyperventilating after it appeared, thanks to a cryptic Amazon.com posting, that the band would be releasing something on December 8th of this year. As it turns out, compliments of an interview between AC’s Dave Portner, aka Avey Tare, and Pitchfork, we now know that said release, titled Fall Be Kind, will be a five-track, 28-minute long EP.
“The title is kind of a play on “fall behind,” when you move the clocks back. Everything seems to be very seasonal or weather-oriented for us this year,” Portner explained to Pitchfork. “I wanted to keep it a little bit in line with that. It felt like Merriweather Post Pavilion was really springy or summery. We always try and push for our releases to come out at a specific time. It didn’t really happen with Merriweather, unfortunately, but that’s because we just really wanted to get that one out quickly.
He continued: “But with this one, we were hoping it would come out in the fall, so Fall Be Kind. I think digitally it’s probably going to come out in the middle of November, with a pre-order kind of thing for vinyl or CD for the beginning of December.”
Portner went on to note mixbag of material, with some coming, three coming from the MPP sessions (“I Think I Can”, “Graze”, & “On a Highway”), while two came together “really fast” (“What Would I Want? Sky” & “Bleed”). Oh, and by the way, did we mention “What Would I Want? Sky” is the one featuring the Grateful Dead sampling?
Musically, however, all five songs seem to convey a similar feeling (remember the part about MPP being springy?). “The vibe is a little bit darker, I’d say– not in terms of the sound, maybe. Well, the melodies are definitely darker. It’s not abrasive dark or anything, but I think the mood of it has just a little bit more of a nighttime, kind of dark, sad vibe,” Portner said.
Got all that? Good, because there is more…
Portner also revealed that Animal Collective will release MPP‘s “Brothersport” (w/ live b-side “Bleeding”) on November 9th and the much-talked about visual film sometime next year, and that the band has no plans to tour for a while. They’ll be writing instead.
So, to recap, new five-track EP coming December 8th, new single coming November 9th, new visual film sometime next year, and no new tour dates anytime soon.
Now, breathe.
Fall Be Kind Tracklist:
01. Graze
02. What Would I Want? Sky
03. Bleed
04. On a Highway
05. I Think I Can
