Domino Record Co., 2015
Imagine The Beach Boys floating on an endless ocean. They haven't seen the shore in days, they know they're going to die, but they just keep singing anyway. You've just imagined a pretty close approximation to the lovely "Sequential Circuits," the opener on Noah Lennox's s bold new album as Panda Bear. At this point in his career, after three solo albums, the constant Beach Boys comparisons seem pointless and cliché, and in fact on the rest of Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, it is Panda Bear himself (alongside co-producer Sonic Boom) who pushes those comparisons to the side. Shedding much of the sonic ephemera that made his previous records so busy and heady, not unlike Brian Wilson's notorious pocket symphonies, Panda Bear has made something surprisingly focused and hard-hitting.
After mis-stepping on the dreary, overlong Tomboy in 2011, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is a return to form for Lennox. Not only that, but, as mentioned, it is a progression in his sound, the first hints of which are in the title. The record's moniker is a clear reference to confirmed Panda Bear influence King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, Augustus Pablo's dub reggae opus from 1975. The production on this record is as full of reverb and other effects as ever, but the bass hits harder and the melodies shine brighter. In fact, as in the classic sounds of dub reggae, bass seems to be the key component to this brew, with each track featuring a rich, full low end that contrasts beautifully with Lennox's boyish crooning.
There is a hip-hop connection that pushes this thrilling juxtaposition further. Early on, "Crosswords" features a funky, syncopated beat that sounds like it could have been sampled from Eric B. and Rakim's classic "Paid in Full" and many of the beats share similar 90's hip-hop trademarks. The hardness of hip-hop combined with the richness of dub creates a truly intriguing listen. The sound is not unlike what Lennox's main gig Animal Collective were doing in 2012 on the divisive Centipede Hz, but that album's excess has been whittled down into something sharp and engaging. Where before some of Panda Bear's songs had been so formless that they threatened to melt away completely, this record brings them back in to sharp focus and re-affirms his talents as a composer and as a singer.
The musical adventurousness on display here would mean very little if it didn't also include some of Panda Bear's finest ever melodies. His lush vocals, peppered with hiccupping syllables and heavenly harmonies function both as rhythm and melody. Perhaps the most intriguing moment comes on the nostalgic "Boys Latin," where orphaned, overdubbed syllables leap out of the mix in a beguiling and beautiful way. "Mr Noah," which was released as the title track of an EP ahead of the album last year, it perhaps Panda Bear's finest pop moment to date, with an overdriven vocal that will have you singing along on the first listen. Elsewhere, "Tropic of Cancer" and "Lonely Wanderer" use samples from Tchaikovsky and Debussy respectively to create sublime slices of baroque pop that are still distinctively Panda Bear.
"Tropic of Cancer" is particularly stunning, unexpectedly slipping into minor chords like a pleasant dream suddenly turning dark. It is through tricks like this that Panda Bear creates a sense of motion and development for a set of songs that largely lack dynamics. This sense of stasis works for the most part, but some tracks, like the seven-and-a-half minute "Come to Your Senses," do overstay their welcome somewhat, simply because they lack development. The album is pretty cleanly split between the pop aspirations - "Mr. Noah," "Boys Latin," "Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker," the spacey disco of "Principe Real" - and tracks like "Tropic of Cancer," and "Sequential Circuits" that are more content to drift. Unfortunately, this contrast makes for a somewhat uneven listen, where some songs end up being overshadowed.
If given time and patience, though, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is very rewarding, and while it doesn't quite scale the heights of the 2007 masterpiece Person Pitch, it's not far behind. Not everything is going to become apparent on first listen, but this record has enough moments of magic to keep you returning again and again. Ultimately, in a career that has dealt with turmoil from the very start - the first Panda Bear album was an improvisational outpouring of grief following the death of Lennox's father - Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is very centred and centring. One gets the feeling from this confident and mature record, that when Panda Bear does meet the Grim Reaper, he'll be doing it with the utmost calm.
