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Members of indie-rock band Animal Collective issued a public apology this week after allowing their label to release a recording of the din produced by a swarm of Australian plague locusts instead of their new album, “Centipede Hz.”
In the statement, the band admitted that there was a “monumental” mishap, and that the recording released by Domino Records is actually an “hour long, low fidelity field recording” of the insects “descending onto a field of crops in the northeastern state of Queensland, Australia.”
“We just want to apologize to all our fans who purchased the record,” the statement read. “We’re working hard to release the real album as soon as possible.”
However, despite the band’s reproof, the locust version of “Centipede Hz” had been met with critical acclaim. Pitchfork wrote that the original album possesses “a powerful, if opaque, emotional core” while indie-blog Stereogum suggested that we “give way to the notion that ‘Centipede Hz’ is an album so great, our brains literally can’t process the notes within our primary auditory cortex.”
“Those critics were listening to a swarm of plague locusts,” said band member Noah Lennox, who records under the pseudonym Panda Bear. “There’s no music on that record whatsoever.”
Most listeners, however, did not recognize the difference between the locust recording and Animal Collective’s music until they were told about it. “I could swear (lead singer) Avey Tare’s yelps are somewhere in there,” said Brooklyn resident Ira Weiss. “But, now that I think about it, it does sound like a swarm of locusts.”
He added, “Yeah, it’s definitely a locust swarm.”
Although Animal Collective began streaming the real album from their website on Tuesday, many listeners have found they prefer the original locust recordings. “Look, I love Animal Collective,” said Jen Kringdon of Milwaukee. “Huge fan. But I’ll take that locust shit any day of the week.”
The band released a second statement expressing confusion regarding listeners’ reactions to the real “Centipede Hz.” “What’s streaming from our website is the actual album we intended to release,” the statement read. “The original release is a recording our friend Jeff made of a locust swarm. Nothing more.”
Still, many listeners prefer the original version of “Centipede Hz” to the real version. According to a spokesperson for Animal Collective, the band will issue a statement to apologize for the release of the actual album.
