Earthworks: Animal Collective (1 hr)
In the first installment of the new Earthworks series, Animal Collective has reached Brazil, riding a riverboat deep into nature soaking in the sounds of the river and the people to feed the group's music and to hunt down some of the reasons for the region's rapid destruction.
What does a huge anaconda sound like? Animal Collective went to Brazil on a mission to immerse themselves in the sounds of the wild and in this Earthworks clip, the band leaves an "almost haunted" resort to hike into the the rainforest to have a magical performance among the snakes, birds, and two-hundred-year-old trees.
Animal Collective heads underwater to capture the secret river song of Brazil's dolphins as they journey through the rainforest in search of natural sounds. Aided by a local professor of bioacoustics in this Earthworks clip, the band also finds the beauty in the rhythms of the endangered frogs on the dark water.
Inspired by the harmonies of aquatic creatures, Animal Collective sets up gear above the Brazilian lake and jams with the frogs as they ponder the double dose of climate change danger that deforestation is bringing to the planet. This is Earthworks, where musicians go into the wild for sonic inspiration.
Animal Collective are in Brazil, "gathering from the environment as we go," they explain in this clip of Earthworks. The band has set out in an small motorboat to perform with the water and vegetation itself. Soon, they find out it's a lesson in what an instrument can be: sometimes a guitar and torn leaf are a perfect duet.
Animal Collective's journey into the heart of Brazil's rainforest to find music in wilderness culminates with the gentle, joyful performance of the new song they've just written with the patchwork of sounds they've captured: the tribe's chants, the river dolphins and frogs, the rain. The band's take away?