Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished

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Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is the first collaboration of Avey Tare (David Portner) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), who later became part of Animal Collective. It was released in 2000 on the band's own label and is now considered the debut Animal Collective album. The original release was a small run of 2,000 CDs.

In 2003, it was reissued as a double CD with Danse Manatee on FatCat Records, and later small runs of vinyl were issued by FatCat. A remastered version was released by Domino Recording Company in 2023, featuring new cover art and a new EP of unreleased material from the era.

All the songs were written by Avey Tare between 1997 and 1999, except for Penny Dreadfuls, which he wrote when he was 16. The writing was inspired by his move from Baltimore to New York, which he described as a dark time with only Brian Weitz (Geologist) as a friend.

The music was created in bedrooms and living rooms in Maryland. Guitars and drums were recorded live onto a Tascam 48 eight‑track reel‑to‑reel in Portner’s bedroom in the summer of 1999. Piano songs and overdubs were recorded in his parents’ living room. Tare wanted a jangly guitar sound to create a fluttering feeling, and an old Roland SH-2 synthesizer was used for bass. Drums were played with brushes to echo sounds from the albums Ocean Rain and Forever Changes. Tare directed rhythms with beatboxing, and many other sounds, including much of “Spirit They’ve Vanished,” came from feedback loops. Deakin (Josh Dibb) helped with promotion by sending packages to record labels.

The original cover art was found by Avey Tare and turned out to be an illustration by Dorothy P. Lathrop from a Sara Teasdale book. The album was initially meant to be released under Avey Tare’s name alone, but Panda Bear’s drumming impressed Tare enough to add his name on the front cover. This naming approach—crediting the musicians who played on the album—would continue until 2003’s Campfire Songs.

An insert included with the original release told a fairy‑tale style story about two friends making music together. The title Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished comes from a line spoken by Mr. Magoo in Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

Some tracks have since been performed live. “Chocolate Girl” was reworked for live shows in 2008, and the ending of “Alvin Row” was often played during the 2016–2017 tour. A solo version of “La Rapet” was performed on a 2020 livestream.

There has been confusion about the track listing on early releases. The original limited edition had an untitled track labeled as track 3, which led readers to mis-number tracks 3–9 as 4–10 in many reviews. The 2003 FatCat reissue corrected this by numbering the tracks and leaving a blank for track 3. The 2023 Domino reissue also sparked questions about the companion EP title, A Night at Mr. Raindrop’s Holistic Pharmacy, which was sometimes misnamed due to labeling issues.