Animal Collective changing album title and EP artwork, cite “racial stereotypes”

Today, Animal Collective shared their entire discography on Bandcamp, as part of the website’s latest revenue share waiving day. Ahead of event, the band sent out a newsletter to fans, acknowledging “a few things we felt important to address and correct.” 

Amid the Black Lives Matter movement unfurling internationally, the music, art, and entertainment worlds have been forced to reckon with to their past missteps and indiscretions. From streaming services pulling racist films and tv shows, to The Dixie Chicks changing their name to The Chicks over Confederate-era South connotations. Animal Collective are the latest artist to hold a mirror to their earlier output.

The newsletter addressed changes the band will make to their discography. The seminal alt-rock act have promised to change the artwork of 2006’s People EP—citing its inclusion of a “racist stereotype”—and the title of their 2003 album Here Comes the Indian.

The People’s artwork features a black nanny with two white children, “There is no way to excuse using a ‘mammy’ on our artwork, and so we have decided to remove it,” the band shared. “We understand now that using a racist stereotype at all causes more damage than an explanation can repair, and we apologize.” The band has pledged to donate future royalties from the record to the Equal Justice Initiative.

With Here Comes the Indian, the band acknowledged: “With utmost respect to Indigenous people we feel that having the word Indian in our record title sends the wrong message by objectifying the American Indian people which is not what we were intending with the music.” The album will now be called Ark and a portion of royalties will go to Seeding Sovereignty.

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