Review: Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
National Music Reviews
Panda Bear
Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Domino
Street: 01.13
Panda Bear = Animal Collective / Medicine + Spacemen 3
Listening to Noah Lennox’s musical creations is an experience in sonic hypnosis. Lennox can undoubtedly construct radio friendly songs out of an amount of noise and obscure samples that a traditional pop artist simply wouldn’t tolerate, but this record also proves his most minimal compositions to be his most affective. The Beach Boy’s comparisons to Lennox sound make complete sense when listening to “Tropic of Cancer,” one of Lennox’s barest songs to date. Consisting primarily of harp samples and Lennox’s contemplative singing, it’s a song that could never grow old though it feels to contain the wisdom of 1000 years. “Lonely Wanderer” achieves a similar effect although it seems to stem from cosmic boundaries rather than earthly realms. PBMTGR displays no radical evolution in sound from 2011’s Tomboy, but it’s impressive enough to maintain the level of consistency Lennox has achieved with such a dynamic sound palette. –Justin Gallegos
Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Domino
Street: 01.13
Panda Bear = Animal Collective / Medicine + Spacemen 3
Listening to Noah Lennox’s musical creations is an experience in sonic hypnosis. Lennox can undoubtedly construct radio friendly songs out of an amount of noise and obscure samples that a traditional pop artist simply wouldn’t tolerate, but this record also proves his most minimal compositions to be his most affective. The Beach Boy’s comparisons to Lennox sound make complete sense when listening to “Tropic of Cancer,” one of Lennox’s barest songs to date. Consisting primarily of harp samples and Lennox’s contemplative singing, it’s a song that could never grow old though it feels to contain the wisdom of 1000 years. “Lonely Wanderer” achieves a similar effect although it seems to stem from cosmic boundaries rather than earthly realms. PBMTGR displays no radical evolution in sound from 2011’s Tomboy, but it’s impressive enough to maintain the level of consistency Lennox has achieved with such a dynamic sound palette. –Justin Gallegos
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