I will never doubt the sincerity of Panda Bear – or Sonic Boom, but he’ll get to him in a moment. He is, first and foremost, a lover of music, no matter what reputation is dispensed by 2000s indie pop endorsed by the most revered and bullied hipster squids. As cheeky as the liner notes of seminal Panda release Person Pitch are, on which he lists over a hundred artists as influences, from Dr. Dre to Arthur Russell, he has built a career – whether solo or with Animal Collective – on honouring, attempting to give something back to, the many styles he has solicited from. It’s only the same as Sonic Boom’s love of older styles of pop and rock n roll, perhaps better observed on the solo output of his old collaborator Spiritualized, but it should be no surprise that his and Panda Bear’s first collaborative album, entitled Reset, would receive mariachi and dub do-overs, and that now, the most noteworthy moments of follow-up A ? of When are unashamedly doo-wop.
The style that the duo honours is the Beach Boys playing up their own doo-wop / brill building influences, reimagined through a modern, indie lens. The modernisation is the duo’s controlled textures, in which colours don’t explode all at once, but instruments such as timpani, sitar, harp and steel drums are carefully chosen for a specific, well-thought-out burst of colour.
I began by addressing “sincerity”, because when the doo-wop strikes at its loudest, songs like Lucky Charm and Revive Him suggest mockery. Sonic Boom has an impressive low register, offering classic vocal group bass-singing, though these stomping, come-alive would-be-hits are tampered by his humourful “doo-doo-doo-doo” and “bow-bow” libs. I still like these songs; they’re attention-grabbing even if they do sound a bit ridiculous, and as addressed, when these guys are around, I know their aim is true.
No such gimmicks are elected on the similar-paced title track – featuring the album’s best, kitty cat lyrics – or the slower ditties, that really would’ve sounded like Grease outtakes if they had gone for a bit of a bow-bow. Pray to You is so classic, it rubs shoulders far more with The Platters than it does Animal Collective; its vocals intensify into a gallop, and Like a Moth to a Flame picks up where it left off by…pretty much being the same song.
These songs are like tender scenes in comedy films; Tonight You Belong to Me in The Jerk. Plenty of tender magic is allowed on the album, see the spiritually robust Something Like Dreaming. This is what happens when you let two excellent, forward-thinking producers, with such a strong love of music, into the same room. Panda Bear and Sonic Boom create magical cacophonies of sound as psychedelically medicinal as they are humanely hand-crafted. Sure, one or two vocal takes sound like songs one might recommend to their quirky friend whose pet dingo had to be put down, but tell me this thing isn’t gorgeous.
Best tracks – Something Like Dreaming – A ? of When.
Rating – 7.5 out of 10
