The Animals
by Dellwood
About this track
Music Video: https://youtu.be/7drVeag0eak?si=wCvYeLXp27caInBi Stream: https://www.submithub.com/link/dellwood-the-animals With The Animals, Dellwood steps further into darker, more mysterious territory — a brooding folk song that feels both intimate and otherworldly. Built around a simple acoustic guitar progression, the track is carried by haunting vocal layers in a lower range than most Dellwood recordings to date. The lyrics unfold like fragments of memory and dream — “Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground” — evoking both disorientation and belonging. It’s a meditation on longing and self-searching, on being caught in a mental maze but trusting the wrestle will find purpose. “The Animals felt like a personal paradox,” says Chris Bartels. “I wanted to capture the feeling of being lost in doubt while still grounded in something familiar. It’s vulnerable and cryptic, but also strangely hopeful.” The production leans into both nostalgia and experimentation. Folk roots are present in the acoustic core, while experimental textures emerge from recording layers in different keys, then pitching them back — creating ghostly shadows beneath the song’s surface. The result is a track that feels familiar and human, yet unsettlingly spectral. The Animals expands Dellwood’s evolving palette: cinematic folk at its core, but open to the edge of the unknown — a voice both comforting and haunting, finding beauty in the wrestle between fragility and purpose. /// Press Highlights for Dellwood (Year One): • “Soul-stirring indie-folk… raw and intimate strums wonderfully juxtaposed with cinematically produced vocal layering.” – Up To Hear Music • “Delicate harmonies radiate raw emotion and soul… a hauntingly personal atmosphere.” – Caesar Live N Loud • “Explores the weight of family through a haunting narrative… lyrics ache with unspoken words.” – Purple Melon • “An intimate slice of folk… emotional power and sincerity reminiscent of early Bon Iver.” – We All Want Someone To Shout For • “A warm, atmospheric soundscape… tackling life’s challenges and finding solace in shared vulnerability.” – Purple Melon /// LYRICS I feel like the animals I feel like the animals I feel like the animals I feel like the animals Whispers knit, your cryptic verse The night we broke, with starry guise Tempered dust, I’ve been sculpted out I washed it clear, with blood-red eyes I feel like the animals I feel like the animals I feel like the animals I feel like the animals It’s brighter now, but only from the snow The coffee, strong, forgotten on the table Now back to dirt, the woodlands’ pull I’ve tasted all, the timeless fate, betrayal I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground I feel like the animals Sinking down, in Wisconsin ground