At long last, Gold Panda is properly back. In truth, he never truly left us, releasing the (absurdly underrated, ecstatic) Jag Trax as DJ Jenifa in 2019. Nonetheless, it’s somehow been since 2016 that he released his last proper Panda full length, the delightfully nostalgic Good Luck and Do Your Best.
Now, he seems intent on pushing even further towards sonic joy via the warmth of his latest effort, “I’ve Felt Better (Than I Do Now)”. Despite its moody title, its sound is anything but, a romp of pure fun and bouncy samples.
He explains, “I mess with chopping up samples until I get an interesting loop so I never set out to write a track; I’m led by the samples and then go from there. Funnily enough, My life now is actually way better than it was 10 years ago and I’m a bit healthier and I probably actually do feel better in general (apart from when I had that brain hemorrhage last year).“
The track is also glued to a very particular time for the artist, as he reflects, “I made this when my daughter was two years old and I felt knackered and I’d turned 41. The samples just came together and sounded like “I’ve felt better…” and at the same time I was looking at my anti-depressants feeling tired and just thought ‘ha, that’s right!’“
Check it out below or on streaming platforms, and stay tuned, hopefully, for more from Gold Panda very soon in 2022.
“I’ve Felt Better (Than I Do Now)” is out on City Slang. Catch Gold Panda on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
