Portner 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. Portner recorded the "Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished" album with Lennox, and initially released the recording on the band's own Animal label in 1999. The album is commonly referred to as the first official Animal Collective release, with Tare writing the music and Lennox providing the 'perfect percussion' (as cited in the album's credits).