Animal Collective Return with the Elusive “Prester John”

It’s the lead single from their new album “Time Skiffs,” out February 4.
Animal Collective Return with the Elusive “Prester John”

It’s the lead single from their new album “Time Skiffs,” out February 4.

Words: Margaret Farrell

photo by Hisham Bharoocha 

October 20, 2021

A couple days ago, Animal Collective was hinting at something. Now we get the full picture, which is that the art-rock group will be releasing a new album called Time Skiffs on February 4 via Domino Records. The forthcoming LP follows 2016’s Painting With and will have nine tracks. The first single, which we get to hear today, is called “Prester John,” and it came to be by combining two different songs, one written by Avey Tare and the other by Panda Bear.

The single (as well as the colorful Jason Lester–directed video it arrives with) is the same sort of acid-drenched, cavernous, proggy experimentalism we’ve come to expect from AnCo, stretching their psychedelic sounds, relatively conventional rock-band setup, and nearly Fleet Fox–ian baroque harmonies to almost seven minutes. Check out the vid below.

The band will also be hitting the road in March to play a string of dates across the U.S.—check dates and buy tickets (on sale starting this Friday) here.