In 30 years, we’ll talk about Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) the same way we talk about Brian Wilson today. The details of Animal Collective (of which Panda Bear is an essential part) will be unfolded the same way that the story of the Beatles has become known in detail. What’s coming into existence here (Panda Bear) and there (Animal Collective) is Pop-music with an extra twist that’s pleasing the skilled listener as well as the occasional aesthete. Not even Tomboy could change anything about that. Nothing, really. Because the album is – as experts have seen it coming – actually really good. Still, it can’t beat the pants off Person Pitch. That has nothing to do with the songs, nor with the fact that Noah Lennox has granted this sampler comparatively less room. It’s simply because the 33-year-old has created 11 tracks from one and the same recipe. Where Person Pitch was more variable, unpredictable and somewhat rough around the edges, Tomboy is jumping from one 4:30 track to another 4:30 track, from one melody trailing off to another, from hit to hit – which is actually well impressive in this denseness. If i didn’t love Person Pitch so very much, I’d probably drop to my knees and gape in astonishment. This way, I only like it very, very much.
Σtella
Adagio
Sub Pop