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 Panda Bear
Person Pitch
Paw Tracks 2007
It’s too difficult for me to talk about this album without being ridiculously superlative so I’m not even going to try and hold back. Person Pitch is undoubtedly one of the most engaging, gratifying and essential albums I have heard in the past few years and without a doubt the best album of 2007 (so far).
Being a part of NYC based freak folk group The Animal Collective, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) has had some seven years experience in creating exciting and experimental music, on top of his burgeoning solo career. Person Pitch, the follow-up to his largely unheard debut self-titled album, and 2004’s acclaimed Young Prayer, looks set to be an unlikely and highly unconventional classic.
Person Pitch is a real album, a work that flows free throughout and by the end becomes a seemingly natural and cohesive whole. Ironically enough, natural is one of the first words that comes to mind when describing this album, despite the fact that musically, it consists solely of two SP-303 samplers. I guess it is a result of the album’s disregard of conventional song structure; nothing here seems hindered or preconceived, each song takes a life of its own, sometimes meandering or repeating, and sometimes slowly evolving into something completely new and different, all of which make perfect sense in the album’s context.
Sonically, the overarching characteristic is that of bliss; this is a nice album to listen to. The dense production, multiple layers and reverb, are perhaps comparable to shoegazing, only, where shoegazing is dissonant, Person Pitch is an explosion of classic-sounding melodies and pure sweetness. In fact, a number of the tracks on this album have garnered comparisons to Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys - which is surely a testament to Lennox’s songwriting abilities. Based strictly on the nature of the melodies and their harmonies, the comparison is pretty apt, and with the aforementioned reverb and overall grainy production, it increases the album’s strange sense of nostalgia and familiarity. Lyrically also, Lennox seems to have adopted that Wilson-esque sense of optimism. Album opener “Comfy in Nautica” begins with some indiscernible clanging noises before fading into a harmonized choral chant of “try”, overtop of which Lennox’s reedy tenor recites: “living is what you want to/but you’re scared to go forth/try to remember just to have a good time”, a stark contrast to the more gloomy nature of Young Prayer which was written after the death of his father.
However, those expecting the classic Beach Boys three minute formulaic pop song should look elsewhere. This is more like discovering a lost Beach Boys vinyl that has become seriously warped and worn from years under direct sunlight.
This will be one of the biggest albums of the year, prompting a flurry of preachers (like myself) and inevitably a large group of contrary detractors and cynics. This is simply the nature of the hype-fuelled modern day music machine. However, with an album like Person Pitch one really does wish it could simply transcend all the trivial buzz and be listened to with clear and unbiased ears. This is not an album for everyone, but those who “get it” will likely be blown away and infinitely rewarded.
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