Animal Collective have announced a reissue of their debut album Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, due out May 12 on Domino. Originally released in a very small CD-only pressing on their own Animal label in August 2000 and credited to Avey Tare & Panda Bear prior to the full, collective band name being used on releases. Today the band shares two songs – “Chocolate Girl (Remastered 2023)” and the never-before-released “Untitled 1.”

Chiming laments for a childhood’s end, Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished opens with the phrase “want to hear a secret, I know one,” suggesting these secrets just might be buried deep within the flocks of high frequencies, electronic glitches, bleeps and swells that follow. The duo’s approach is similar to Love’s (circa Forever Changes), with Avey Tare’s picked acoustic guitar flowing in perfect syncopation with Panda Bear’s tumbling drum kit. But the layers of tonal and atonal electronics that fatten the thinner pulse of the songwriter’s vision make this album resemble something closer to modern electronic composition.

The reissue features remastered audio, new artwork by Abby and Dave Portner, and the A Night at Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Supermarket EP, which contains five previously unreleased tracks, including a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” that were recorded from the same era and mixed by Animal Collective’s Deakin. The remastered album will be available physically on standard 2xLP, and an expanded edition containing the EP will be available digitally and physically via deluxe 3xLP & 2xCD formats.

Animal Collective
Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished
Remastered 2023

1. Spirit They’ve Vanished (Remastered 2023)
2. April And The Phantom (Remastered 2023)
3. Untitled (Remastered 2023)
4. Penny Dreadfuls (Remastered 2023)
5. Chocolate Girl (Remastered 2023)
6. Everyone Whistling (Remastered 2023)
7. La Rapet (Remastered 2023)
8. Bat You’ll Fly (Remastered 2023)
9. Someday I’ll Grow To Be As Tall As The Giant (Remastered 2023)
10. Alvin Row (Remastered 2023)

Pre-order Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They Vanished and new EP by Animal Collective HERE