Before I had been worried about Panda Bear’s still upcoming album “Tomboy” but this EP has reassured me. The previous EPs made me worry that perhaps he had sort of lost his edge, since I enjoyed but did not truly love them. A few things made me change my mind.
One of those things was the concert he had on Governor’s Island, which truly was a great time to be had. During that concert he actually played a few songs I hadn’t been familiar with through either leaks or live bootlegs. Both of those favorites appear on this painfully brief EP.
“You can count on me” sounds like a drunken, happy campfire chant. The bizarre rhythm and hand claps only confirm this. A guitar which actually resembles a guitar makes this a particularly enjoyable track.
But the real winner is “Alsatian Dam”. I remember for the concert they had the visuals set to sort of roller coaster which fits the direction of the music pretty well. This is a really sweet, touching song. Part of me hopes that on the album this song gets stretched out for another 8 minutes or so. Pop music never sounded so good.
I’m actually pretty happy that as these EPs get closer to the undisclosed release date, they are improving in quality. Maybe he’s just working on them through audience reaction, so we’ll get the best possible material once the album comes out. My only hope would be that this album actually comes out this year; I’d be very bummed out to have to wait until 2011 for it.
Hopefully we can count on him.
Hopefully we can count on him.