For anyone who’s been yearning for Animal Collective to return to the warm electronic psychedelia of Merriweather Post Pavillion, here’s a pleasant surprise: the band has shared “Mountain Game,” an outtake from 2010 that they recorded for the video game Red Dead Redemption, but that the studio declined to use.
“Mountain Game” opens with field recordings and gentle acoustic guitar chords streaked with delay, sounding more like Sung Tongs than Merriweather. Soon enough, a bouncy drum machine and synth enter, and the song is unmistakably of its era. “Mountain Game” is charming, but has an unfinished quality—it’s easy to understand why it didn’t make it to a proper album. Listen below.
