''Campfire Songs'' is the debut and only album by the American band Campfire Songs, released in March 2003. A collaborative work between

Dave Portner David Michael Portner (born April 24, 1979), also known by his moniker Avey Tare, is a musician and songwriter who co-founded the American experimental pop band Animal Collective. He has released three solo albums, as well as three collaborative a ...

Noah Lennox Noah Benjamin Lennox (born July 17, 1978), also known by his moniker Panda Bear, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founding member of the band Animal Collective. In addition to his work with that group, Len ...

, and

Josh Dibb Joshua Caleb Dibb (born January 6, 1978), also known by his moniker Deakin, is an American musician who co-founded the experimental pop band Animal Collective. He is the most infrequent member of the collective appearing on only six of the group's ...

, it was later retroactively classified as the third studio album by their band

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is characterized ...

Recording

The album comprises five individual songs played back to back and recorded in one take. Although it was the middle of November and thus very cold, the recording was made outside on a screen porch in Maryland, using three

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

MiniDisc MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio. Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year fo ...

players with

ECM-MS907 microphones placed strategically around the band. Ambient sound from the surrounding area was also recorded on January 2002 and added later to "Queen in My Pictures" and "Moo Rah Rah Rain". The album was mixed at Avey Tare's apartment in

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

and later mastered with Nicolas Vernhes at Rare Book Room. An aborted recording session for the album took place in December 1999, and included the track "Bleak Midwinter", which is not on the final tracklisting. It premiered on

Geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

's radio program ''The O'Brien System'' in 2018. "Doggy" was re-worked for live performances along with "Hey Light" from ''

Here Comes the Indian ''Here Comes the Indian'' is the first album by the American experimental pop band Animal Collective under that name, released June 17, 2003 on Paw Tracks. It is the first release by the group on which all four members perform together: Avey Tare ...

'' in 2007. About the recording and the idea for this record,

Panda Bear The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...

said in 2005: The three members of Animal Collective performing on this album are

Avey Tare David Michael Portner (born April 24, 1979), also known by his moniker Avey Tare, is a musician and songwriter who co-founded the American experimental pop band Animal Collective. He has released three solo albums, as well as three collaborative ...

, and Deakin, who makes his debut appearance here. It is their only album featuring this lineup. Although member

does not perform on the album, he was present for the recording to operate the

players. At this point in time, despite the presence of all four original members, there was still no Animal Collective proper; the name Campfire Songs was intended to be the name of the band performing the album, as well as the name of the album itself. However, the band name 'Animal Collective' is used in the booklet from the latest copies of the album. About one week before recording, they played the whole album live at Tonic in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, sitting in the middle of the floor while the audience surrounded them. ''Campfire Songs'' is one of only three Animal Collective-related releases (the others being 2007's ''

Strawberry Jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the method ...

'' and 2012's ''

Centipede Hz ''Centipede Hz'' is the ninth studio album by American experimental pop group Animal Collective, released on September 4, 2012 on Domino Recording Company, Domino Records. The album marks the return of band member Deakin (musician), Deakin, who s ...

'') to include a booklet with full lyrics. The original Catsup Plate version of the album went out of print in 2008, and was reissued by

Paw Tracks Records Paw Tracks (formerly known as Soccer Stars until 2000, then Animal until 2003) was an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. At first only records by Animal Collective were released on the label, but since 2004 it has also released r ...

on January 26, 2010.

Track listing

Personnel

(as "Doon") -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(as "Sia") - acoustic guitar, vocals * Deakin (as "Sweet James") - acoustic guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

References

External links

Catsup Plate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campfire Songs (Album) 2003 debut albums Animal Collective albums New Weird America albums