Panda Bear's 2007 masterpiece Person Pitch is on my desert island list of all-time favourite albums, and while I doubt Sinister Grift will ever occupy the same echelon, it's another compelling release from the Animal Collective songwriter.
This time around, he's using a palette of echoing guitar strums and dubby drum loops, while the melodies shine with his usual Beach Boys-y brightness. But what really distinguishes Sinister Grift in Panda's discography are the undercurrents of doubt, darkness and bitterness running through these 10 tracks.
"I'm an actor in a fantasy / I'm swimming in an agony / I'm a factor in a fallacy," he sings with deceptive sunniness on the carefree-sounding but lyrically fraught reggae strut of "50mg." Coming from the guy who once sang about contentment in simplicity and prioritizing his family unit above anything else on Animal Collective's best-known song, it's a major vibe shift.
Read Exclaim!'s recent interview with Panda Bear here.