Animal Collective are cleaning up their catalogue to catch up with the times. In a newsletter sent to fans on Thursday night (via Pitchfork), the Baltimore outfit announced they have “a few things we felt important to address and correct.”
For starters, the group confirmed they’re changing the title of 2003’s Here Comes the Indian to simply Ark. “With utmost respect to Indigenous people we feel that having the word Indian in our record title sends the wrong message by objectifying the American Indian people which is not what we were intending with the music,” they explained, adding that a portion of future royalties will go towards Seeding Sovereignty.
They’re also going to change the artwork on 2006’s People EP, which features a Black nanny watching over two white children. “We understand now that using a racist stereotype at all causes more damage than an explanation can repair, and we apologize,” they wrote, pledging to donate future royalties from the EP to the Equal Justice Initiative.
The charity doesn’t stop there, either: A portion of proceeds from 2017’s Meeting of the Waters EP will also go to Cultural Survival. Their reason? The album includes samples recorded of the Tatuyo tribe in Brazil. “As we were guests in their world, we feel it is only right to continue to show our gratitude,” they argued.
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The changes will go into effect over the next couple of days on all digital platforms. In related news, Animal Collective’s entire catalogue arrives on Bandcamp tomorrow — Friday, July 3rd — and includes their new Bridge to Quiet EP. The group has also pledged that proceeds tomorrow are going to Cultural Survival, the Equal Justice Initiative, Seeding Sovereignty, Southerners on New Ground (SONG), and the Okra Project. To top it all off, they’re also making a $10,000 donation to split between those groups.
