The wait for Animal Collective’s first new album in the better part of a decade just got easier—or more difficult, depending on how you look at it. “Strung with Everything,” out now along with a music video, is our third preview of the much-anticipated Time Skiffs, coming Feb. 4 on Domino, and the band have also set a U.K./E.U. tour for this fall.
Directed by Abby Portner, sister of David Portner (aka Avey Tare), the cutout animated video for “Strung with Everything” follows the psychedelic existential epic’s rise and fall, pairing images such as a raindrop-speckled lake with its peaceful moments, and a wizard battling a dragon with its more tumultuous. Its abundant flow of colors and symbols is interrupted only by the occasional lyric throughout the track’s melodic sprawl. The song, like seemingly so much modern music, seeks connection amid calamity: “Let’s say tonight you and me / We’ll watch the sky fall into pieces […] And even though all hearts are strange / We’re all Strung with Everything.”
“Recently for Animal Collective’s live shows I have been designing and animating all of the video content out of cut paper,” says Abby Portner of the “Strung with Everything” video in a statement. “I have been editing together symbols and colored static silhouettes that match the music’s feeling and rhythm. The videos are like pictographs that tell a story organically and simply. For the ‘Strung with Everything’ video we wanted to continue with this process to match the style of the band’s live shows in a music video.”
“Strung with Everything” appears on Time Skiffs alongside previous singles “Prester John” and “Walker.” The band performed two unreleased album tracks, “Car Keys” and “Dragon Slayer,” at Pitchfork Music Festival last fall.
Animal Collective’s U.K./E.U. tour kicks off in November, following their March U.S. tour and July set at Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival. Tickets for their U.S. dates are on sale now, while U.K./E.U. pre-sale starts this Thursday, Jan. 20, before general on-sale Friday, Jan. 21.
See the “Strung with Everything” video and Animal Collective’s tour dates below.
Animal Collective Tour Dates:
March
08 – Richmond, VA @ The National
09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11 – North Adams, MA @ MASS MoCA – Hunter Center
12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
13 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
15 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
16 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
18 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
19 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
20 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
21 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
23 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
24 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
25 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
July
07-09 – Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Fest
November
02 – Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s
03 – Dublin, IE @ National Concert Hall
06 – Bristol, UK @ SWX
07 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
09 – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s
12 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
15 – Hamburg, DE @ Übel & Gefährlich
16 – Berlin, DE @ Kesselhaus
17 – Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
19 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
20 – Munich, DE @ Freiheiz
21 – Fribourg, CH @ Fri-Son
23 – Luxembourg, LU @ Atelier
24 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo
27 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
