Avey Tare (born David Portner on April 24th, 1979) is a musician and founding member of Animal Collective. Avey Tare met Animal Collective's Deakin (Josh Dibb), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), and Geologist (Brian Weitz) in high school. For years, the four of them swapped homemade recordings, shared musical ideas and performed in different group configurations. Avey Tare recorded the Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished album with Panda Bear, and initially released the recording on the band's own Animal label in 2000.