''Animals'' is the debut album by Oxford-based

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

band

This Town Needs Guns TTNG (formerly known as This Town Needs Guns) are a British math rock band from Oxford, formed in 2004, and currently signed to the American label Sargent House Records. Following numerous departures, the band went from being a four-piece to a ...

. It had its UK release on 13 October 2008, under BSM Records, and on 10 March 2009 in the US, via Sargent House Records. It was recorded over the periods of March through May on a four weekend basis due to financial and personal demands. It was all recorded at the Lodge Studios in Northampton Every song on the album continues the same theme of being named after different types of animals. During the writing and recording phase, the band named each song with temporary names in order to avoid calling them formal titles, such as "New Track 1", etc. So, they settled with names of animals as a fleeting substitute for the song names, hoping to change them before release. However, the band eventually couldn't decide on official names to replace them with, so the titles remained as they were. There has been a promotional video made for "Panda", which was aired on the band's website and record label's YouTube page on 3 September 2008. The album has been listed on the UK

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

, but the track listing is incorrect; the songs have been listed alphabetically. An acoustic remake called ''Animals Acoustic'' was released on 3 October 2018 to celebrate the album's tenth anniversary. TTNG brought Stuart Smith back to perform the vocals, as well as joining the band for the Animals 10th Anniversary Tour, where the band performed the entirety of ''Animals'' at each performance.

Track listing

# "Chinchilla" – 4:22 # "Baboon" – 3:26 # "Lemur" – 3:09 # "Badger" – 4:53 # "Quetzal" – 0:35 # "Panda" – 3:25 # "Elk" – 3:46 # "Pig" – 3:46 # "Gibbon" – 4:27 # "Dog" – 2:52 # "Crocodile" – 2:31 # "Rabbit" – 4:43 # "Zebra" – 1:50

US track listing

# "Pig" - 3:48 # "Baboon" - 3:26 # "Panda" - 3:27 # "Gibbon" - 4:26 # "Rabbit" - 4:45 # "Badger" - 4:53 # "Elk" - 3:51 # "Crocodile" - 2:31 # "Quetzel" - 0:37 # "Chinchilla" - 4:27 # "Dog" - 2:55 # "Lemur" - 3:11 # "Zebra" - 2:08 # "If I Sit Still, Maybe I'll Get Out Of Here (Bonus Track)" - 6:04 # "26 Is Dancier Than 4 (Bonus Track)" - 4:48

Personnel

*Stuart Smith -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Dan Adams -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Tim Collis -

*Chris Collis -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Additional

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

provided by Jody Prewitt.

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Sargent House albums This Town Needs Guns albums