Animal Collective’s Deakin has announced details of his ‘have you bloody well finished this yet mate’ debut solo album.
The record originally began as a Kickstarter back in 2009, and will finally drop on April 8th – yes, tomorrow – on all major streaming services and digital retailers. Just call him Deakoncé.
Titled ‘Sleep Cycle’, the full-length comes alongside a video for track ‘Just Am’. Kickstarter backers will already have been shipped the album, including the “only planned physical release” cassette.
A press release explains: “Due to personal and professional issues the project has been delayed for years. Most speculated that Deakin used the money that was raised to cover his own travel expenses. This was not the case. The entire trip and all of the subsequent costs to design manufacture and deliver the rewards were self funded except for a small portion that was set aside to help with a portion of shipping and manufacturing costs.”
“While all of the songs were originally conceived in 2010, only the ambient tracks are recordings from that time. In 2015 Josh went into Rare Book Room studio with Nicolas Vernhes and recorded “Footy” and “Good House.” For that session Josh recruited long-time friend Tim Dewit (aka Dutch E. Germ, original member of Gang Gang Dance) to play drums on “Footy.” After hearing some demos, Pete Kember (aka Sonic Boom), asked to mix “Good House” and the resulting recording is what made the album. Josh finished the rest of the recording and mixing himself at home over the course of late 2015.”
A founding member, Deakin left Animal Collective before the band’s 2009 album ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’. He rejoined in 2010 and was on the band’s ‘Centipede Hz’ in 2012, but does not appear on their new album ‘Painting With’. Basically, he’s like Angel in the later series of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, occasionally showing up but also needing to get stuff done on his own show. Hope this helps.