Baltimore-based Animal Collective has just released their newest song titled “Defeat”. The band’s newest piece has an astonishing runtime of nearly 22 minutes. 

The song itself starts slow with its cello and beat drumming along, until around the 9 minute mark when it begins to pick up pace before slowing down to its original pace towards the end, ultimately making “Defeat” a satisfying listen. The song speaks about defeat as evident by its title, but also inspires hope and perseverance, and as Animal Collective put it “to stay grounded like the spruce”. 

Animal Collective’s newest song was recorded with Grammy-winning producer Russell Elevado, and features several guest musician appearances, such as Samara Lubelski (violin), Leila Bordreuil (cello) and Ben Chapoteau-Katz (saxophone). 

“Defeat” will receive a limited edition 12-inch including their entirely improvised track “The Challenge (Live Edit)” which, according to Stereogum, was stitched together from 11 different performances that took place last year. The 12-inch is set to release on August 25th; pre-orders can be found here.

Check out our previous articles on Animal Collective below:

Animal Collective Releases Cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”