Panda Bear, Now Sort of Boring
by Lauren Beck
Panda Bear
Tomboy/Slow Motion 7''
(Paw Tracks)
At a time when sounding like Brian Wilson is more popular than ever, leave it to one of the dudes in Animal Collective—the one whose last solo endeavor earned him relentless Beach Boys comparisons—to try his hand at something else. "Tomboy," the first limited-edition single leading up to the LP of the same name (rumored for release in September), pulsates with an eerie, downbeat energy. The delay-heavy aesthetic that Noah Lennox is known for is still at play, but the blissed-out version from 2007's adored Person Pitch is morphed into angular beats, lazy guitars and Lennox's voice following their ebb and flow, smoothing over rough edges like water over stones. B-Side "Slow Motion" ups the ante, adding punch with a quasi trip-hop beat and uncharacteristically tense vocals.
