×

30
31

Here Comes The Indian - DISCUSSION THREAD (self.AnimalCollective)

submitted by pigammon

Welcome back to the semi-regular series of discussion threads!

I hope as we get into more popular albums these get more comments.

Here Comes The Indian is the first "Animal Collective" album! Finally, we're sinking our teeth into the main Animal Collective discography. This is a very weird album, almost on par with Danse Manatee in terms on strangeness and experimentation - and yet this record was received with a lot of acclaim. Pitchfork gave it a really positive rating! Whaaaaat?!?

On Here Comes the Indian, we used a heavy amount of effects just to get the same amount of texture as the rest of the music. We didn't want the vocals to sit on top.

In a lot of African music, the singers are just singing whatever they feel at the time-- because the instrumentation is repetitive, they can come and go as they please. That's how we approach it. Not verse-chorus-verse. - Avey

Source

  1. Native Belle
  2. Hey Light
  3. Infant Dressing Table
  4. Panic
  5. Two Sails On A Sound
  6. Slippi
  7. Too Soon

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Saag74I16UYU1r8159hyr

RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/animal-collective/here-comes-the-indian-2/

CD/Vinyl: https://animal-collective.myshopify.com/products/animal-collective-here-comes-the-indian-new

Prompts:

What do you like/dislike about the album?

What is/are your favorite track(s) on the album?

Do you think it still holds up after all this time?

all 24 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]Mad_Flav0r 22 points23 points  (2 children)

Definitely my favorite AnCo album by far. I can't really explain why I like it, i just do. It's literally my perfect album. I don't really see the songs as songs, it's like its happening in front of my eyes. Every other song I've ever heard had some sort of concrete setting in my mind, but Here Comes The Indian doesn't have that to me, it exists with reality, not in it. It's really hard to describe, and this post was really rambely and disjointed, but i did my best to describe my feelings of it.

[–]uncrewsteel horse moving 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I have exhausted all of the things I could say about Here Comes the Indian over the years so I’ll just gesture to this comment, thank you.

[–]RogertheDumpling 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow I don’t know why this makes so much sense to me. You’re right it’s kind of like the album just happens. It’s my second favorite of theirs

[–]shanedabesSpanish lady came to me she lays on me this rose 11 points12 points  (2 children)

After the amazing ambient and transcendentally creepy masterpiece that is Two Sails On A Sound... mutherfuckin' Slippi comes on and launches you out of the forest. HCTI is fantastic it just ends Too Soon

[–]derkur94 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I see what you did there

[–]1000Patte[WOMAN VOCALIZING, MAN SPEAKING BACKWARD] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmmm

[–]Avaleer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

super weird album, definitely took a few listens to appreciate. i still wouldn't say i love it or that it ranks very high in their discography for me but it has some really strong tracks like Native Belle, Hey Light and Slippi. it certainly feels like an album that needs to be listened to in whole tho. overall, Slippi is my favorite and one of my favorite anco songs with avey screams.

[–]shorinjiryuThere's the house where I grew up 8 points9 points  (1 child)

This album is a little tough for me to get into, which is weird because I really like Hollinndagain. I'm not sure what angle to approach it with or what setting to listen to it in. So far Hey Light and Slippi are the stand out tracks for me.

[–]pigammon[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It was the last AnCo album to click with me. A very strange, transitional record.

To me it's similar to Danse but with much better production and songs, and without any of the childlike whimsy of Spirit.

[–]Maxiscoolerthanyouhehe 8 points9 points  (2 children)

This album always stays near the top 3 AnCo albums for me. It’s the first AnCo studio release with Deakin and you can really hear it. The amount of guitars all over the album are fantastic.

I would also recommend the leaked Instrumental version of the album that’s called “Ark”.

[–]Xephen69 4 points5 points  (1 child)

iirc avey was the only one that plays guitars on that album which is kinda incredible considering how massive they sound. wonder what deak was doing the entire time lol

[–]Bearz_n_Cru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve read that too but I’ve never been sure if that was true. The guitar sounds too good to be Avey. That being said, it does sound pretty frantic and Deakin’s style is usually much more deliberate

[–]NowheremanPhD 4 points5 points  (0 children)

SLIPPI FOR PRESIDENT

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

I once read a post where someone listened to the album while driving through a terrible thunderstorm in the mountains, I'm unsure of where I read it. Since then I listen to the album pretty much every time I get the chance to drive during a storm, and I feel it's a wondrous experience.

Hey Light proves to be my favorite, along with Panic, and Too Soon. My favorite part is the rampant shouting and chanting throughout the album.

Chaotic and crowded, this album isn't always pleasant but strikes very specific chords with me. Definitely one of my favorites.

[–]gram_bot 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Hello SwedishOrange, just a heads up, "Everytime" should be written as two separate words: every time. While some compound words like everywhere, everyday, and everyone have become commonplace in the English language, everytime is not considered an acceptable compound word. To stop gram_ bot from commenting on your comments, please use the command: "yourUserName ?ami"

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks robit.

[–]JelyBoy64 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm not the BIGGEST fan of this album but it definitely stands out for being so damn creative and it has some of the best atmosphere of any of there albums. I wonder how they went about making this. Like this album sometimes sounds like it wasn't created by humans.

[–]yayayathecreator 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Probably one of the more middle of the road releases from them imo. The production & songwriting is kind of hard to get into imo, but maybe I just haven't put it on enough. Still, not bad stuff at all

[–]aliasofmike 2 points3 points  (0 children)

this album for me came as the first retrospective release I listened to, after having gotten into Sung Tongs and Feels. I feel like I have to mention this because this album totally warped my perception of AnCo and myself and the world. For me Sung Tongs and Feels came to me at a time when I was just starting to explore actually accepting myself in a way that totally started just in my bedroom freaking out and dancing to their tunes, painting abstract stuff, and getting weird with my music. It was a light (as in vs dark), positive sort of opening.

I didn't know anything about Here Comes before I listened to it. I remember the moment and where I was when I first listened (I had just popped the cd into my portable cd player lel while I was chilling in the lab at school), because I was so fucking disoriented and yet focused at the same time. It was like being dropped into someone else's trip, and slowly realizing it was MY trip. I really think there is so much more raw struggle in this music, and the beautiful uplifting moments (thinking Hey Light rn cuz that's where I'm at in my listen), have this quavering am-I-really-here-? sort of vibe.

In terms of songs, for me this album is a bit like Campfire Songs in that it feels like one long journey, and it's hard for me to view any song in isolation. Over time, I started developing my own sort of narrative for the album, which was not really based on the lyrics, though the artwork and song titles for sure. In my mind, the speaker or main character of the album is this young guy who is in a sort of desperate intense relationship/place, and his g/f gets pregnant. At first he's trying to grapple (Panic) with this vision of the future where he has a child (Slippi) but ultimately finds out his g/f has decided to have an abortion, which he then must accept (Too Soon).

Kinda weird... and says more about me than them. I think with this album more than most I've avoided dispelling my narrative for the sake of an "official" one, to the extent that I haven't really tried to decode/lookup the lyrics beyond one or two songs.

For me Two Sails on a Sound is the focal stretch, this sort of more coherent reflection of the pieces around it. Listening to it now I am seeing it also as a connection between past and future sounds of theirs. Definitely has a Ahhh Good Country vibe, but the consistent piano reminds me of Feels.

Over all of this, I hear within the music a guide through it all, and there is a real sense of resolution for me.

[–]whereartestebanthe greatest goalie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

not much else like it, I'd say. "Native Belle" is maybe my favorite on there. also a very sick album cover.

[–]benG_boy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

for somereason I always thought it was "Two Snails on a Sound" and I recently found out my mistake. I feel like such an idiot. Anyway that's like one of my favorite songs if I just want to say goodbye to the world for like 10 minutes

[–]octaveflight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So good! Slippi is probably my fave from it

[–]Superspookyghostlike following angels 1 point2 points  (0 children)

HCTI kicks fucking ass.

You have made me smile again,

There ain't nothing like it

[–]WHYAMIDO_INGTHIS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Better than Merriweather