Music lovers tend to associate dub step and electronic music with beat drops, harsh synthesizers and explosive lyrics, but Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) has proven to be the psychedelic slow jam of the electronic world.
Experimental musician Panda Bear’ssolo studio album “Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper,” which celebrates death, was released Jan. 13.
“I suppose it's sounding a bit like a mixture of the last two albums, a little bit," Lennox said at an interview with the music blog Seventh Hex. "This one's more — (it) has more of a sense of humor, I think, and maybe is a bit more playful."
The album consists of muddled lyrics with too-intricately-layered beats. There are so many layers overflowing with energy and color, one can barely make out the lyrics of the songs. The story and message Lennox attempts to communicate become lost and the song is solely an interesting mix of sounds instead of a melodic narrative.
Surrealist, dream-like melodies are a unique characteristic of Panda Bear’s sound. This is ideal background music for any trippy adventure. Despite the exclusive feel to the songs, many of them aren’t memorable — few of the lyrics are heard and retained. Muffled by all sorts of samples, drum cuts and other instruments, the melodies seem repetitive.
One of the weaker songs is “Butcher Baker Candle Stick Maker,” which is painfully redundant. There are only four verses that are repeated over and over again. “Lonely Wanderer” works in the same way. Genuine sadness cannot be communicated through the static burst of sounds and sappy melody.
“Acid Wash” is another repetitive song that gets old quickly. The lyrics are long and drawn out, maybe to create the illusion of more content than there actually is. For the final song, it wasn’t much of a finale. If you’re one to appreciate a musician’s lyrical prowess, this may not be the album for you.
The standout song from this album is definitely “Mr. Noah.” This trippy, fast-paced track is one of the album’s redeeming qualities — so many different elements are pieced together to produce an interesting collage of sounds. “Tropic Of Cancer” utilizes a sample of a harp from “The Nutcracker” which adds a light, refreshing burst of authenticity in the track. “Crosswords” is very catchy and the one most likely to make you get up and dance.
This is definitely a niche album for the psychedelic soul that overlaps different music styles, prerecorded samples and raw music to create Panda Bear’s unique sound.
While everyone might not love the music, everyone can appreciate his intricate song-constructing technique.