The brightly colored duo breaks with the era’s absurdity on “A ? of When,” a second album of remarkable delicacy.
To offer something else, to break free from spatial-temporal constraints and explore elsewhere by opening new paths. It is this quest for transcendence that Peter Kember, aka Sonic Boom, has pursued since the early sonic disturbances of Spacemen 3. The same goes for Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, already in search of the intangible vapor at the origins of Animal Collective.
After several respective collaborations, a first joint album (Reset, 2022) and its dub and ranchera variants, the Anglo-American duo extends the original intention.
A Digital Diet
The restart now proceeds through disconnection, a necessary step toward a paradigm shift in a world that is losing its sense: This is not a question of if, Noah Lennox sings on the Kosmische breakthrough of the title track of this new long. It’s a question of when.
On May 13, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom indeed announced stepping back from the digital sphere to reconnect with the real world. And to mark the moment, A ? of When was released in physical format only, just like the singles Lucky Charm/Graveyard, gathered on a 45t for Disquaire Day.
Less focused on the use of samples, its ten songs with bedroom psychedelia reveal a more organic and collaborative approach, where the strings of Mary Lattimore, Zena Kay’s steel guitar and the touches of experimental musician Daniel O’Sullivan or the renowned Mariachi 2000 cross paths. Most notably, they house one of the duo’s finest compositions: Pray to You. From now on, and forever.
A ? of When (Domino/Sony Music). Release on July 10.
