The Forgotten “Other” Animal Collective - Twi The Humble Feather. (repost)

Hello all! Reposting this for newer AC fans who might enjoy this story :)

What if I were to tell you that there was “another” Animal collective? A band that came about at the same time as Animal Collective? Shared the same city, stages and even at times lived and played together? Look no further, because I am here to introduce you to the “other” Animal Collective, an amazing project called Twi The Humble Feather.

If you were to mention the names Animal collective to a fan in NYC in the early 2000s, Twi The Humble Feather would usually come to mind too - maybe thats from the news outlets such as NPR and Stereogum making those comparisons. Don’t get it wrong though - the members of Twi were not imitating. These groups grew up at the same time, collectively being inspired in the same zeitgeist of early 2000s NYC.

Twi Consisted of Anthony Lebron, Hektor Fontanez & Bryan Doring. In the beginning, Twi was much more experimental - playing noise based shows at venues like North 6 in Williamsburg, Other Music in Manhattan, and many, many other spots. In the summer of 2005, Twi members Hektor and Anthony teamed up with Adam Kriney (of Owl Sounds, The Golden Grass & La Otracina) to create a tour de force of a music project called Blizzards. You could say that there is also an Animal Collective with their one album, titles “We Walk Slower Than You Walk Fast”. Blizzards Toured the east coast in the summer of 2005 and continued to play around NYC for a while longer.

Around 2006 is the break-off point for comparison to Animal Collective. While Animal Collective started working on the Opus that would be Strawberry Jam - Twi was trading in the noise machines for classical guitars - becoming extremely disciplined in their playing, to the point of obsession. The members tightened to a point of perfection. The Story of Twi (pronounced Why) was shaping up (Twi was a space traveler and the songs reflected his travels). This time was spent playing various twi shows in and around NYC, and releasing the very rare CD-r of their first album, which you can download a digital copy HERE.

In 2007, members Bryan Doring, Hektor Fontanez and Hiko Konami (with cameos from Anthony lebron, Juiana Barwick and others) Created a circuit bent synthpop group called Alias Pail. You can here their music HERE.

2008/09 were the big years of Twi. Their incredible EP called Music for Spaceships And Forests was released, and Twi was quite literally everywhere. News outlets constantly covered their album, they played relentlessly(great WMFU performance and interview), and went on two tours with Jose Gonzales, opening for him in America, as well as a European tour (along side the amazing David Thomas Broughton). Their song "Higher to the end" was even featured in a Heineken SUPER BOWL Commercial! The biggest venues in NYC were fighting over booking them, as they all thought that in a Years time, they would never get the chance to book them again, as they would be too big. It truly seemed like Twi was on the path to surpass Animal Collective’s growth and become a household name. So what happened?

Simply put - life happened. Bryan Left the group for personal reasons in 2009, and Hektor and Anthony continued with the name - playing shows, but had to eventually take a hiatus when Anthony had to leave NYC for a time to take care of family issues. A followup to Music For Spaceships and Forests was in the works through it all called “Red Palace”. Maybe Red Palace took too long to come out, but eventually the remaining members moved on to other projects (Hektor had a rock group called Imaginary Weapons) and Anthony doing another project when he came back to NYC called Los Arcos (with Hektor as well)

Twi The Humble Feather continued into 2014, playing shows in and around NYC, but slowly other interests and life itself took the place of playing as the group.

It's sad we live in a Twi-less world, as in a short time, they gave us so, so much incredible music. It was fun back in the day watching them branch out from the Animal Collective comparisons, and truly become their own. Maybe someday Twi can re-unite, or release more music, or maybe we just enjoy the sounds and memories. I hope you all go forth and enjoy their music - its truly something incredible.