Animal Kingdom (band)

Animal Kingdom
Origin	North London, United Kingdom
Genres	Indie rock, alternative rock, post-Britpop
Years active	2008–present
Labels	BoomBox Records, Mom + Pop Music
Website	http://www.weareanimalkingdom.com/
Members	Richard Sauberlich Hamish Crombie Geoff Lea

Animal Kingdom is a British alternative rock trio comprising Richard Sauberlich on vocals, guitar, and piano, Hamish Crombie on bass, and Geoff Lea on drums. They have released two studio albums; Signs and Wonders in 2009 and The Looking Away on 8 May 2012.

Their debut album Signs and Wonders was recorded by Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes/The Shins) in Seattle and released in 2009. The first single "Tin Man" was iTunes "Single of the Week" and iTunes named them Best New Alternative Act.

Support tours with Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, Snow Patrol and Silversun Pickups followed, as well as numerous festival appearances in the UK and Europe.

Songs taken from the album were featured in various films and TV shows including Never Let Me Go (starring Keira Knightley) and HBO's Big Love. "Mephistopheles" appears in the 2012 UK film Life Just Is.

The album was praised by critics. NME described it as "Achingly beautiful celestial indie…Will have Sigur Ros quivering with envy." and The Fly magazine felt "...Their debut swells with spiritually melancholic masterpieces." Particular praise was given to the single "Chalk Stars". XFM's Jon Kennedy named "Chalk Stars" his "Song of the Year" and BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe called "Chalk Stars" "...a stunning piece of music".

The band wrote and rehearsed for the album in an old church in North London. They completed their second album with Bat for Lashes/Everything Everything producer David Kosten and signed to BoomBox Records in the US.

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