Animal Collective members Dave Portner (Avey Tare) and Brian Weitz (Geologist) have emerged with a new instrumental duo project dubbed Croz Boyce and will release their self-titled debut on May 8 through longtime label Domino.
The nine-track effort is led by the track “Hanging Out With a Blueberry Pop,” which is accompanied with a beguiling underwater video directed by explorer Joseph Ricketts. Fellow Animal Collective member Josh Dibb (Deakin) contributed to the album’s mixing.
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Portner and Weitz were inspired to work together in this fashion after contributing an Animal Collective track they created as a duo, “Brown Thrasher,” to the 2022 compilation For the Birds. Early the following year, Portner began sending guitar instrumentals to Weitz, who would then send back his own contributions. The pair did not work on this music in the same room until the mixing process.
“A record of sweet or fretful acoustic strums and electronics that give every scene color and depth, Croz Boyce feels like a celebration of friendship, of the chance to share a lifetime together even if from a distance,” reads a description. As for the name? After beginning the sessions shortly after the death of David Crosby, the musicians utilized a Dropbox folder dubbed “Croz Boys” to share their work and the moniker stuck (it’s “not a tribute to the Croz’s music at all but maybe an unintentional tribute to the idea that there are lots of worse ways to pass your life than making music with buds,” Domino says).
Animal Collective has not played a proper live show since September 2022; its most recent album, Isn’t It Now?, was released in September 2023. Group member Panda Bear will play the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona and Porto, Portugal, in June.
Here is the track list for Croz Boyce:
Hanging Out With a Blueberry Pop
Towson Acid
What If Janis Just Stared?
Abundant River Zap
Steven’s Sunshine Rejected
Father Karras
Janis (Still Staring)
Eternal Dream Drone
Banana Pudding
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