Geologist is the only Animal Collective member never to have released a solo album, but that will change next year, when he releases Can I Get A Pack Of Camel Lights? on January 30 via Drag City. It features contributions from Avey Tare, drummers Emma Garau, Alianna Kalaba (FACS, Cat Power) and Ryan Oslance (The Dead Tongues, Indigo De Souza), plus Sham’s Shane McCord on clarinets and Mikey Powers on cello.
The album was inspired by iconic punk label SST Records by way of the unique stringed instrument the hurdy-gurdy. “Most of the formative music in my teens was guitar based, and at that age, you try to play like your favorites,” Geologist says. “But I was never very good at guitar myself. A couple years ago when trying to come up with a solo hurdy gurdy drone set to take out on tour, I heard a story about Greg Ginn playing guitar solos over a drum machine. I was coming to accept that whatever drone I could make on the hurdy gurdy would never live up to when I first heard Keiji Haino play one at Tonic in 1998. So I went the Ginn route instead and wrote this record. I still can’t play or write like my favorites, but the hurdy gurdy got me closer than guitar ever did.”
The first single is “Tonic,” which references that Keiji Haino set he caught in 1998 at John Zorn’s much-missed LES club. You can listen below.
Geologist has a few live dates coming up, including NYC’s Giorno Poetry Systems on December 12 with Eric Copeland of Black Dice. All dates are below.
Can I Get A Pack Of Camel Lights?
1. Oracle Road
2. Tonic
3. RV Envy
4. Not Trad
5. Color in the B&W
6. Compact Mirror/Last Names
7. Government Job
8. Pumpkin Festival
9. Shelley Duvall
10. Sonora
Geologist 2025 Live Dates
11/20 Washington, DC @ Rhizome (w/ The Caribbean)
11/22 Baltimore, MD @ The Red Room (w/ Mike Alfieri, Obi Feldi, Iron Joy)
12/11 Washington, DC @ Songbyrd (w/ Ducks LTD, Phoebe Rings)
12/12 New York, NY @ Giorno Poetry Systems (w/ Eric Copeland)
12/13 Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery (w/ Bitchin Bajas)