Panda Bear

Panda Bear’s Noah Lennox has followed up the Animal Collective’s grand 2005 album, Feels, by building an even bigger wall of sound. Without the help of a band, he built this pop/psychedelic masterstroke via digital assembly. Using little more than a Mac computer and a homespun studio of mixing boards, effects boxes and microphones — a layout he shows off in the album’s artwork — Person Pitch, Panda Bear’s second solo outing, could best be described as the album Brian Wilson might try to make if he was currently in his 20s. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Lennox’s voice sounds much like Wilson’s. But what keeps this album from slipping into an impressive knock-off of influences is the method in which the chugging, at times stomping techni-coloured songs have been stretched out (the first single hits 11 minutes!) and strung together. Unafraid to connect warm harmonies with white noise dissonance, Lennox wrings the catchiness of "Bros,” "Comfy In Nautica” and four more songs through swirling loops to build these jam marathons. Ultimately, Person Pitch may not offer an improvement in Lennox’s songwriting abilities — he was always a more adept songsmith than Avery Tare — as it does a giant leap forward for his producing credentials. Person Pitch is a must for Animal Collective fans. It’s also quite possibly the first solo outing by one of that band’s members to stand on its own and rival the rest of indie rock on its own terms.