Mistletone

MP3: Lucky 1

“If you’re a fan of earlier, sparer and more mysterious Animal Collective you should be way into Down There’s understated, complex collection of just-in-time-for-Halloween pop music” – STEREOGUM PREMATURE EVALUATION

“Using elements from past ventures, like vocals steeped in reverb and abstract song structures, Portner has homed in on a specific ambiance with which his band has only flirted… The crocodile has emerged from the collective as an animal that stands on its own” – NPR FIRST LISTEN

“Down There is shimmering, cerebral pop, all the way from the swamp floor” – MUSIC AUSTRALIA GUIDE

Down There is the incredible new solo album from Animal Collective member Dave Portner a/k/a Avey Tare, out now on Mistletone Records through Inertia.

Dave Portner AKA Avey Tare was born in Baltimore County, Maryland on April 24th in the year of 1979.  He moved to New York City in 1997 where he resides to this day (in south Brooklyn).

Though he spends most of his time writing songs and producing sounds (usually in the group Animal Collective) he also is an intense record collector, film fanatic, book head, friend, and traveler.   It’s from these things primarily that Mr. Portner gets his inspiration, still striving to blend sounds and discover musical territory that seems unfamiliar.

His favorite animals are the otter and crocodile. The later has played a big role in his newest record.

Down There is a world of nine new songs from Animal Collective’s Avey Tare. His first official solo full length carries you through a murky world of sound, an alien death world of soul grooves that is both honest and otherworldly.

Wait for sundown and turn it up loud. Take a ride on this haunted boat and let yourself be guided through deep sloshy rhythms, waterlogged bass, and moonlit breaks in the canopy that reveal a crisp crystalline pop buzz.

Down There was recorded in the month of June by old friend Josh Dibb (Deakin) at the Good House, an old church in upstate New York, surrounded by The Great Swamp and visited regularly by monks, white widows, and groan toads.

Tracklisting: 1. Laughing Hieroglyphic  2. 3 Umbrellas  3. Oliver Twist  4. Glass Bottom Boat  5. Ghost Of Books  6. Cemeteries  7. Heads Hammock  8.  Heather In The Hospital  9. Lucky 1

From the Inertia blog:

Animal Collective are proving to be indie music’s own Wu-Tang Clan. Universally worshipped as a collective, the members still manage to carry unique artistic identities reflected in mindblowing solo outings.

While, until now, it’s been Panda Bear’s game-changing solo work that has soaked up majority of the attention, it seems Avey Tare (aka. Dave Portner)  is about to give his bandmate a run for his money with forthcoming solo record, ‘Down There’.

Out 29th October via our buds at Mistletone, the album is a strange, haunted odyssey. Not surprising really, from a guy who appears in his press shots dressed as a crocodile (his favourite animal, apparently).

The first track to emerge from the album, “Lucky 1″, is available as a free mp3 below and should give you an idea of what we’re all in for. The instrumentation splits and mutates like alien bacteria. The vocals prance across the dusty landscapes of distant moons.

It’s bizarre. It’s beautiful. It’s soulful.
Wait. Do crocodiles have souls?