Hey, it's another Animal Collective spinoff! Just a month and a half ago, Brian Weitz, better known as Geologist, became the last member of AnCo to put out a solo album when he released Can I Get A Pack Of Camel Lights? Now, Geologist has teamed up with his longtime bandmate Avey Tare, known to the government as Dave Portner, to form a new instrumental duo called Croz Boyce. I hope I never have to say that name out loud, since I will definitely trip over it at least three times before choking out the correct pronunciation. They've got a self-titled album coming out this spring.
In 2022, Animal Collective contributed a track called "Brown Thrasher" to a gigantic birdsong-inspired 242-song compilation called For The Birds: The Birdsong Project. That song was just Avey Tare and Geologist working together, and they liked making that song enough that they decided to keep doing it. For the past few years, they've been recording together remotely, with Tare coming up with guitar bits and then sending them to Geologist, who adds his own parts. Eventually, they recorded together in North Carolina and Baltimore, and now we're getting the completed album. Their bandmate Deakin did some additional mixing.
Today, Croz Boyce share their debut single and album opener "Hanging Out With A Blueberry Pop." It's a languid, pretty instrumental where acoustic and slide guitars seem to murmur back and forth in a sleepy conversation. The best way to experience the song is with the video, a Joseph Ricketts-directed series of nature shots of the noble manatee. Maybe you think you're too busy to take five minutes and watch some manatees drifting around to some quiet instrumental music, but I promise you that it's a good thing to do with your time.
A couple of years ago, I had my family at Disney World, and we got off the Finding Nemo ride and headed into the adjoining aquarium, and I gasped out loud at what I saw in there. They had two manatees just lolling around in a tank. I never thought I'd get to see manatees in person, and these guys caught me by surprise. I damn near cried. If I could've jumped into the tank and chilled with them all day, that's what I would've done, but I was made to understand that this was not an option. Those are some great animals. Below, check out the "Hanging Out With A Blueberry Pop" video and the Croz Boyce tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Hanging Out With A Blueberry Pop"
02 "Towson Acid"
03 "What If Janis Just Stared?"
04 "Abundant River Zap"
05 "Steven’s Sunshine Rejected"
06 "Father Karras"
07 "Janis (Still Staring)"
08 "Eternal Dream Drone"
09 "Banana Pudding"
Croz Boyce is out 5/8 on Domino. For some of us, the song title "Towson Acid" is extremely evocative.
