When you think of Animal Collective, open world Western third-person action video games aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind. But believe it or not, AnCo were originally supposed to be involved with Rockstar’s 2010 hit Red Dead Redemption. Perhaps the recent announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2 spurred the band on to share their unused contribution to the original, “Mountain Game”.
The track was written and recorded specifically for the game, according to the band, but ended up shelved for one reason or another. “Mountain Game” opens with the sort of South Western acoustic guitar plucking and foreboding drones one could very well imagine scoring a blood red sunset over the plains. From there, though, the song warps into AnCo’s familiar neo-psych experimental pop. While the song is definitely pretty and interesting, it’s fair to see why the game developers might have decided not to include it in the final product.
Take a listen to “Mountain Game” below.
