Posted: 04/18/07

Panda Bear
Person Pitch

Patrick Smith | contributing writer
psmith4@smcvt.edu

Panda Bear is the alias for Animal Collective member Noah Lennox and the moniker for his solo project. His recent release, Person Pitch is about as solo as an album can get. When many artists set out on a solo project, they gather other musicians around them to play some instruments, provide some back up, and occasionally influence the music. There aren’t any signs of that happening here, whether in the liner notes or the music itself. It carries the sound of someone working on their music intimately, alone, hidden away before revealing the product.

That however, doesn’t translate into a man with guitar, pulling on his own heartstrings. The opening seconds of the first track “Comfy in Nautica” are machine-like rumblings and clanking collisions that establish that this album isn’t going to be straightforward by any means. Much of it consists of recorded sounds, ambient noise, found sound, stamping and whatever else can be mixed with a tiny bit of guitar or drums and made into something delightful and listenable. In other words, this is heavily produced, and carefully arranged, which is something to be damned with this type of attempt, as even small amounts of sloppiness could make it a painful experience.

The ambient sound and sprawling droning, clunking and churning aren’t without direction either. The songs all have a progression that carries the movement along. Most of the tracks can be broken into multiple sections that flow into each other. As some sounds drift away, others start up, while a third hangs around to provide consistency. The sure-footed shifts of rhythms are part of what make Person Pitch rewarding on a close listen.

The complications aren’t around simply to produce complicated music that doesn’t have anything supporting it, when something simpler serves the music best, it happens. The bells and guitar that open “Bros” is an example of this. Even as the song stretches to over twelve minutes, the beginning stays throughout most of the song. When the song reaches the mid-point, the vocals step away and the noise steps up. It seems that continuous guitar has stopped, but it grows stronger, and the lyrics come back. More specific than lyrics, abstract vocalizations, like some part of the music has to be distorted and somewhat strange at all times.

At his most clear moments, Lennox’s vocals are easily reminiscent of The Beach Boys, and help make the album more accessible. However, he often complicates that as much as he does the rest of the music. They are often layered, with two or three vocal recordings playing over one another, doing wholly different things. He often distorts his voice to the point where it doesn’t matter if he is forming words, or just sounds that fit beautifully with the music. The ethereal “Im Not,” a short break between 12 minute songs, is an ideal example of this. The prominence of the vocals shifts throughout, sometimes loud and clear over the music, sometimes muffled underneath, or nearly completely buried.

Person Pitch is an album that requires patience and interest. Its constant shifting of structure within one track, multiple times, is a challenge to find the song hidden within. The beginning, middle and end can sound so completely different that it is easy to question why they are the same track, but when enough attention is paid, the structure becomes clear. At times, it seems like the music is a Rube Goldberg machine with a beautiful payoff.

This close listening isn’t absolutely necessary either, it is easy background music. A casual listen turns the album into soothing, gorgeous noise to fill up the brain that is bored with silence. Yet, if you slip off into sleep, the explosion and near industrial beats that cover nearly the first five minutes of “Good Girl/ Carrots,” should be enough to wake you up and beg for a closer listen.

In the end, Person Pitch sends the listener off with a gift. The final track “Ponytail” is short, simple, clear, and rewarding. The lyrics are clearer than they have been elsewhere. The structure is contained into one constant, recognizable strong song. It is a fitting, recognizable end to this type of effort, and the pay-off is strong when the work leading up to it is as refined as it is on Person Pitch.