Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb).

The band's work is characterized by an eclectic exploration of styles, including psychedelia, freak folk, noise, and electronica,[5] with the use of elements such as loops, drones, sampling, vocal harmonies, and sound collage.

[9] Their 2009 follow-up Merriweather Post Pavilion was the band's most commercially successful album, reaching #13 on the US chart;[10] its reverb-heavy psychedelic pop sound proved highly influential to independent music of the subsequent decade.

[16] When Portner and Weitz met Dibb later in high school, they started an indie rock band called Automine with schoolmates Brendan Fowler (a.k.a.

[19] Meanwhile, Dibb had introduced Lennox to Portner and Weitz, and the four of them began playing music in different group lineups (and often solo), producing several home recordings and swapping them and sharing ideas.

Using a drum machine for the first time, Weitz and Portner started a duo named Wendy Darling, whose sound was inspired by soundtracks of horror movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Shining, especially György Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki.

[20] Abhorring the new life as a student at NYU, Portner, along with Weitz, returned to Maryland every summer to meet Lennox and Dibb and play music together.

[22] In parallel with his environmental policy and marine biology studies, Weitz hosted a noise show at WKCR, Columbia's college radio station.

In the summer of 2000, the four friends spent several months at Portner's apartment in downtown New York City intensely playing music together using antiquated synthesizers, acoustic guitars, and household objects.

On the Collected Animals message board, Weitz wrote, "At that point we all knew we'd get back from tour, record the songs, and then we needed space from each other, and we still had more than 2 weeks left on the road".

Being fans of the cult folk singer's 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day, the group had dinner with Bunyan and asked her to collaborate on some recordings.

The group encouraged her to sing lead vocals on three songs left over from the Sung Tongs era, released on the Prospect Hummer EP in early 2005.

Weitz, who had started a day job in early 2004, could not join this tour and therefore missed the recording session with Bunyan, but contributed one instrumental song to the EP.

The spring tour included performances at small to mid-sized venues such as BAR Nightclub in New Haven, Connecticut and the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.

Ariel Pink supported as an opening act for the tour and Animal Collective's sets were well received as the buzz around the band slowly increased.

[31] In October 2005, Animal Collective released Feels, recorded in Seattle with Climax Golden Twins' Scott Colburn, known for his work with the Sun City Girls.

During the recording process in early 2007, Dibb announced via the Collected Animals forum that he would take a break from touring for a "myriad of personal reasons" until fall.

On May 7, the band made their second television appearance, on the Late Show with David Letterman, performing the single "Summertime Clothes" from Merriweather Post Pavilion.

In an interview with Pitchfork Media, Portner announced the last single from the album would be "Brother Sport", released November 9 on vinyl with the live B-side "Bleeding".

[48] In January 2010, LAS Magazine posted an article about alternative music financing that points out Deakin's initiative to have fans pay for a trip to perform at Africa's Festival in the Desert.

[50] On March 4, 2010, Animal Collective collaborated once again with Danny Perez in the audio-visual performance piece Transverse Temporal Gyrus at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, celebrating its 50th anniversary.

[52] During several interviews in the second half of 2010, Lennox and Portner mentioned plans for Animal Collective's next album, including writing all together in the same location[53] and the possibility of recording the new songs before taking them on tour,[54] neither of which had happened for a long time.

On the evening of May 6, 2011, Avey Tare, Geologist, and Deakin presented a rare 35mm print of the 1983 Shaw Brothers production The Boxer's Omen in the historic Charles Theatre, and noted that another favorite film of the group was House.

[81][independent source needed] On July 2, the group announced a digital reissue of the majority of their back catalogue to Bandcamp, alongside the release of a new EP, Bridge to Quiet.

[82] Animal Collective (specifically members Deakin and Geologist) contributed the soundtrack for Marnie Ellen Hertzler's debut film Crestone.

[86][87] Portner, Lennox, Weitz, and Dibb began as lo-fi indie rock musicians who, by high school, had amassed individual bodies of work recorded on cassette tapes.

Influenced by horror film soundtracks and 20th century classical music, along with a shared passion for vocal harmony the group progressed to "walls of drones with guitars and delay pedals and us screaming into mics," in Portner's words.

"[108] For Centipede Hz (2012), Weltz created an "inspirational mix" of songs which influenced the album's making; the playlist included content by Pink Floyd, Portishead, We the People, Milton Nascimento, Zé Ramalho, Eddie & Ernie, Gandalf, Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes, Silver Apples, Dorothy Ashby, 13th Floor Elevators, Apryl Fool, and others.

[109] Animal Collective are often compared to American rock band the Beach Boys,[110][111] a vocal group who performed original songs written by their co-founder and leader Brian Wilson, himself inspired by barbershop music and his use of psychedelic drugs.

[112] The comparisons led Thorin Klosowski of the publication Westword to negatively refer to Animal Collective's music as "two Beach Boys records [playing] at the same time".