Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper by Panda Bear
Posted in 2015, January, Q1 on January 15th, 2015 by Devin R Dougherty
Album: Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
Artist: Panda Bear
Release Date: January 9, 2015
Label: Domino
Genre: Experimental/Electronic/Neo-psychedelia
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is Panda Bear’s fifth solo studio album. When he’s not working with the great Animal Collective, he’s creating great music on his own that has its own identity, different from that of Animal Collective.
The album feels like two separate albums, the first half and the second half. The first half is pretty good, but each composition fails to grow past a good idea. The main theme repeats and repeats and repeats until the song stops. This is most noticeable in the track “Boys Latin,” which is a frustrating series of refrains. Same with “Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker,” which never seems to build upon itself, no composition, just a beginning to end. The rest of this half is pretty good, the first single “Mr Noah,” is an excellent track, even if it tends to fall to the same pitfalls as the other tracks.
The second (loosely-defined) half starts with “Tropic of Cancer,” the undisputed best track on the album, a dreamy soundscape filled with Panda Bear’s beautiful singing. His singing can’t be over-appreciated, it is wonderful. Every track through the rest of the album is wonderful. “Principe Real” and “Selfish Gene” are surprisingly fun tracks, and the other ones play more with the experimental nature of the composer.
I listen to Animal Collective a lot, and for me, it’s impossible not to compare Panda Bear to his band’s work. This a very good album, but whenever I listen to Panda Bear or Avey Tare’s solo music, I feel like it’s missing something. It feels like they need each other to create one cohesive work. Otherwise, the album just becomes experimental and psychedelic ramblings. This can be fun as well, as evidenced by this album, but it’s really hard not to want more.
Great Tracks: “Mr Noah,” “Crosswords,” “Tropic of Cancer,” “Lonely Wanderer,” “Principe Real,” “Selfish Gene,” “Acid Wash”
Not-so-great Track: “Boys Latin”
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
