Animal Collective provide the score for A24’s upcoming film The Inspection, and today, the Baltimore band have shared “Crucible,” the first look at the movie’s soundtrack. Listen to the song below.
Elegance Bratton wrote and directed The Inspection about the life of Ellis French, a gay Black man who joined the Marines to support himself after being ostracized from his family. In “Crucible,” Animal Collective match this harrowing tale with a hypnotic, even empowering, mix of organs and group vocals. “This road is for us all, so let’s begin,” the group sing.
“I wanted us to conjure the feeling of being strong but also showing vulnerability,” Animal Collective’s Avey Tare said of “Crucible.” “The desire to ask a community or a loved one to have your back and support you and the expectation that it will happen.”
Bratton said he enlisted the experimental band to compose the score for The Inspection in order to provide a sort of disorienting element to the film. “We were very inspired by the music of our composers Animal Collective,” the director explained in a statement. “We wanted to create the right rhythms to blur the line between what French thinks is real and what is really happening. So those fantasy sequences could serve as the evolution of French’s inner life. In essence, we wanted to create a sense of the stir craziness of the monotony of boot camp, juxtaposed with the massive transformation Ellis French undergoes. Animal Collective provides the perfect backdrop to shrink and expand the time according to the emotion.”
The Inspection, and its soundtrack, is out November 18th; check out the artwork and tracklist for the album below. Last month, Animal Collective brought attention to the troubling state of the touring industry when they were forced to cancel the European leg of their 2022 tour, citing “an economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable” for the band. Before that, they recorded an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.
Revisit our list of Animal Collective in 10 Songs.
The Inspection Soundtrack Artwork:
The Inspection Soundtrack Tracklist:
01. Shelter to Inez
02. Birth Certificate
03. Bus Ride
04. Laws Beat
05. Seeing Rosales
06. Buzz Cuts
07. Reveille
08. Caterpillars
09. Phase 1
10. Shower Fantasy (Movie Edit)
11. Shower Fantasy (Original Mix)
12. Shower Anger
13. Thanksgiving
14. Stress Position
15. Drills
16. Phase 2
17. Drowning Man
18. Flashlights
19. Human Target
20. Cover Up
21. Phone Call
22. Phase 3
23. War Paint
24. Crucible
25. Fight Pit
26. Disappear French
27. Oohrah
28. Sixteen With Nobody
29. Reflection
30. Wish I Knew You (featuring Indigo De Souza)