Animal Collective’s Deakin has supposedly been working on a solo album for years now, but those infrequent but persistent reports have yet to yield anything in the way of actual released music that we can hear. That day is getting closer, however, according to former Spacemen 3 member and frequent Panda Bear collaborator Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember, who wrote this in a thread on AnCo fan forum Collected Animals this afternoon:

I dont think Deakins lp is ready yet …..
He has a really sick set of songs though ……some stunning stuff ….
Reminded me of Nirvana , soft cell , 13th floor elevators & skip spence ( one if Noah’s faves)

All recording is done & i think he has a bit of mixing to do , but i know he has it all on
the boil & ready to finally give out …..a book too i believe ….
Looks like a full year …

After rejoining the band for 2012’s Centipede Hz, Deakin is once again sitting out next month’s upcoming AnCo LP Painting With, so the timing seems about right for him to be working on some solo material.

Now all we need is a Geologist solo album and we’ll have a full set!

UPDATE: Deakin has shared an update with backers of his old Kickstarter, which he launched in 2009 to help fund a CD, a limited edition book, and a trip to perform at 2010’s Festival In The Desert in Mali. According to his message, the album is now finished and will be mailed out to backers by next month. Read below via Collected Animals.

Hello everyone,
On January 1st, 2010 I played my first solo show ever. 6 years ago today I arrived in Timbuktu with Brad Truax to play my second solo show ever. I promised all of you that I would have something to show for it. I know it’s been a really long time, but on January 1st of this year I put the finishing touches on the record I promised you so many years ago. It’s finished. It’s been an incredibly challenging and meaningful process for me and I am really proud of the result. I can’t wait to get it to everyone. I am putting finishing touches on artwork for the book and for the music and for an additional visual treat for everyone. I will be sending everything off to get manufactured as soon as I can. With turnaround times being what they are we aren’t expecting to be able to send packages to you until the end of the month or even early February but believe me that at this point I am pushing to get this all finished as soon as possible.