Yes I'm fully aware that this album is nearly a year old now, but let's just call it a test drive of my new blog.
Panda Bear’s previous album ‘Person Pitch’ is possibly my favourite album of all time. I was a relative new-comer to the whole Animal Collective scene in late 2008 when I heard the first couple of tracks to surface from their soon to be released album Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was immediately hooked, and ended up spending most of 2009 fully indulged in their extensive back catalogue.
At this point in time the thought of looping, repetitive, sample based music didn’t exactly hold a great appeal to me, but then I listened to Person Pitch. Being a big Beach Boys fan, there were always elements of it that were going to chime, but the magnificence of it knocked me for six and not only did it, as previously mentioned, become one of my most loved albums, it has heavily influenced the direction my musical tastes have taken since.
So onto Tomboy. The release of this album was a somewhat convoluted affair. Delay after delay threatened to dampen one’s excitement, but the gradual release of singles from the album helped to relax the hysterical impatience (ask around, I was unbearable), whilst further whetting the appetite. There were also a couple of high quality live recordings floating about, which between them covered most of the songs from the album in one form or another.
Gone were the 11 minute tribal-drone-like-epics, and in were the more beats based, sometimes dub, but ultimately pop-like creations. The lush vocals remained (arguably sounding better than ever), as did the heavy use of reverb (and who seriously doesn't like a good dose of reverb?) and a more focused and accessible work was born.
For the singles, Panda Bear (AKA Noah Lennox) did the mixing himself. For the album however, he brought on board former Spacemen 3 member Pete ‘Sonic Boom’ Kember to mix and produce. The differences between the two were sometimes subtle, sometimes glaringly apparent. An example of the latter being the beginning of Slow Motion, where a sound of what can only be described as an electronic recreation of vomiting abruptly jolts the listener.
As a slight aside, I’ve had the privilege to encounter Sonic Boom himself on an Animal Collective forum, and whilst he posts under heavy influence (ahem, allegedly), these posts were fascinating and gave great insight into his work on the album, and what Panda Bear wanted it to be.
Songs are hard to single out as highlights, as the album flows together brilliantly as a whole (although it seems Panda Bear had a tough time deciding the best order, as shown in his live shows, and in the eventual release of his own mixes on an LP in the special edition boxset – of which I will mention more on shortly). If I had to pick some standouts they would be the uplifting (in sound if not lyrically) second half of Alsatian Darn – particularly the ‘Say can I make a bad mistake?’ part, the aptly named Surfer’s Hymn, and the album’s spine tingling closer Benfica. The later showcasing Noah’s stunning vocals at their glorious best.
If purchasing the album on CD and vinyl wasn’t enough, a special edition vinyl boxset, limited to 5000 copies was announced. All profits from this were to go towards the American Cancer Society. It truly felt like something for the obsessive fans (I include myself in that number as this review as no doubt shown).
Within this boxset was the original album over two LPs (which Sonic Boom later revealed he had made further enhancements to), Panda Bear’s own mixes set out in his (preferred?) running order, and a fourth LP containing some instrumental and a capella versions.
Finally, back in December I got to witness the album played front to back in a live setting, at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. Wow. The show was the icing on the cake to what had been a year immersed in the album. My album of the year.
An expensive but ultimately rewarding year to be a Panda Bear fanboi then. And yeah, a truly wonderful album.
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