Domino Vinilo y CD

Review: There's been much animated discussion online about the meaning of Animal Collective member Noah Lennox's latest solo album under the Panda Bear alias. Whether or not Lennox really is musing on death (as he did on 2004 album Young Prayer, which was recorded in the months following the passing of his father) is almost irrelevant; you see, Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper is a delightfully eccentric listen, full of humid, psychedelic pop songs drenched in '60s style reverb. As a result, it sounds like Pet Sounds or Smile era Beach Boys (Lennox even sounds like Brian Wilson) reinvented for the 21st century, with synths and electronics replacing harmonium and evocative orchestration. As a result, Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper is a sunny sonic delight.

Review: Noah Lennox, in his Panda Bear guise, has always walked a tightrope of sorts, with his third-eye cleansing psyched-out talents - as shown on 2007's landmark opus Person Pitch - occasionally waylaid by the odd drift into self-indulgence. Yet when he's firing on all cylinders, there are no more formidable exponents of sampleadelic boundary-destroying bliss, and Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper finds him on formidable form-these laments and sweet pop nuggets may be constructed from disparate sources and swamped in dub-style echo and reverb to achieve a woozy soft-focus effect, yet their radiance and fresh invention remains manifest. In spite of its title, this is as life-affirming as Lennox has ever sounded.