It’s been 25 years since the first Animal Collective release — 2000’s Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, which was originally released under the name Avey Tare and Panda Bear — and in the intervening years, Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) has developed a series of unparalleled musical dialects. Both in tandem with, and apart from, his bandmates, he has shown a true aptitude for showcasing kaleidoscopic pop psychedelia, dense rock mutations, and experimental ephemera. A melodic thread might be initially explored on an AC album before finding resolution on one of his solo recordings, or he might dispense with any similarities and highlight his own unique perspective that’s been bubbling away for years.
It’s hard to pin down just one avenue of Lennox’s inspiration — he draws upon multiple genres and generations in his search for the communal ley lines that bind his influences together. Just look at the breadth of his collaborations: Daft Punk, Solange, Jamie xx, Paramore, Sonic Boom. These artists share his affinity for sonic decentralization, for the process of deconstructive reappraisal. Pop music, folk, anthemic rock and countless other aesthetics bend and twist under this watchful gaze, tools to be used in service to a much larger musical canvas. And on his latest album, the epochal Sinister Grift, he connects miles of connective tissue through unprecedented rhythmic interpretations.
It was recorded in his home studio in Lisbon with bandmate Josh “Deakin” Dibb and finds Lennox playing almost of the instruments himself, and, as such, feels like a culmination of his work up to this point. The guest spots from artists like Cindy Lee and Spirit of the Beehive’s Rivka Ravede, not to mention his AC cohorts, anchor the album in a way that provides a suitable foundation from which Lennox can deviate and let his imagination bloom without fear of restrictive boundaries. The record feels like an artifact from some parallel timeline where Lennox and his friends found themselves to be the biggest rock stars on the planet. It reveals a considerable confidence in his own unusual impulses and allows those synaptic responses to flourish and unfold in an atmosphere of freewheeling creativity.
Recently, I was able to put a few questions to Lennox while touring with Toro Y Moi. Check out our conversation below.
Beats Per Minute: Your work has always combined esoteric arrangements with the beating heart of a pure pop romantic. And Sinister Grift continues this investigation of uncommon pop interests. Was there a specific spark that initiated the genesis of this project? Or is there a more general drive to create that fuels your creativity?
Panda Bear: Sinister Grift came in to focus slowly but that’s not uncommon for me. Having made stuff for so long it’s definitely become a routine I lean on.
Josh “Deakin” Dibb mentioned that working with you on Sinister Grift brought back memories of those years in the early 90s where you first worked together putting music down on multitrack cassettes. What habits or processes do you carry with you from those earliest collaborative experiences?
Happy to say that the motivation hasn’t changed at all. There’s a very specific feeling of satisfaction I get from hearing the stuff and feeling like its right. It’s often thrilling to make something from nothing.
Was it a conscious decision to handle most of the album’s instrumentation yourself? Or were there other factors which influenced your decision?
I wanted to give it a go. Mid-way through there was so much me to it though that I was looking elsewhere for different flavours. So you get the Cindy Lee and Maria and Rivka and the rest of Animal Collective. I think the records much better for it.
How do purely collaborative albums, such as 2022’s Reset with Sonic Boom, differ in their construction than others where you may work with musicians in a piecemeal fashion? How do you maintain the balance between differing opinions or contrasting production choices?
I don’t know that there’s a formula to it. Generally you just kind of feel it out. The characters have to be right or match. As long as everyone puts the song above everything else, things tend to work out ok.
There’s been an uptick in alternative distribution methods in recent years – Cindy Lee’s latest comes to mind. Have you ever thought to experiment with a rollout that breaks the mold of the traditional distribution cycle?
I dipped my toe in a little with the vinyl only homies. But overall I get the sense that change is in the air and people are looking for a different way to do it.
Between Cindy Lee and Rivka Ravede, and your AC bandmates, there’s no shortage of guests on Sinister Grift. What does that process look like, deciding who fits where and whose possible contribution best fits the world of a given song?
Again, it’s more of an instinct and I try and trust my senses most of the time. I was very lucky that everyone who I thought of was down to go for it.
How much leftover material do you generally have when you’re finished with an album? Is it fairly minimal or are there vast archives of songs or demos that just didn’t fit with the vibe of a given record? Was that the case with Sinister Grift?
There isn’t vast archives leftover but I do like to have more material than we feel we’ll need. Some songs come together better than others as you go and it makes it easier to build the story of the album if you have a bunch of different sorts of pieces to pull from.
What differences are there in how you approach your own music versus that of Animal Collective, or any other collaboration that might present themselves?
At this point it’s all part of the same creative wave. Perhaps having done it for so long and in different ways, I feel like I’ve got the tools to take a thing wherever it needs to go. I used to feel like I had to be more careful about where a song was aimed.
Person Pitch was released to near-total acclaim and catapulted your solo work into the spotlight of both indie and mainstream musical outlets. Do you think that your artistry or the way you approach your music has changed since its release back in 2007?
The approach and the focus is the same. You go in and out of sync with people I suppose.
Touring can be grueling. If you could lead a singalong while traveling with bandmates and friends, which song would you pick to sing, and why?
I don’t think I’d suggest a singalong but I can say whenever Grateful Dead’s American Beauty comes on I’ll sing through most of it.
Check out Panda Bear’s current tour dates below.
March 24 – Centro Cívico Delicias – Zaragoza, ES
March 25 – Paral·lel 62 – Barcelona, ES
March 26 – 16 Toneladas – Valencia, ES
March 27 – La Sala – Madrid, ES
March 28 – Teatro das Figuras – Faro, PT
May 8 – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ *
May 10 – Just Like Heaven – Pasadena, CA
May 12 – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater – Austin, TX *
May 13 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX *
May 14 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX *
May 16 – The Fillmore – Denver, CO * 17th May – Kilby Block Party – Salt Lake City, UT
May 19 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA – SOLD OUT
May 20 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA – SOLD OUT
May 21 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
May 22 – The Showbox – Seattle, WA
May 23 – Hollywood Theater – Vancouver, BC
May 31 – Button Factory – Dublin, IE
June 1 – Slay – Glasgow, UK
June 2 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK
June 3 – Castle and Falcon – Birmingham, UK
June 4 – Gorilla – Manchester, UK
June 5 – Beacon – Bristol, UK
June 6 – Chalk – Brighton, UK
June 7 – Victoria Park – London, UK
* w/ Toro y Moi
Sinister Grift is out now via Domino. You can order the album here. Follow Panda Bear on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
