Panda Bear is the stage name of Noah Lennox, one of the founding members of Animal Collective. Lennox is an incredibly prolific musician, releasing material with other bands in addition to his work with Animal Collective and Tomboy is his fourth solo album to date. Tomboy is yet another showcase for Lennox’s ability to make complex and peculiar compositions full of drones and swirling melodies almost sound radio-friendly.

It’s an album that somehow manages to sound original while wearing its influences on its sleeves. The track Slow Motion, for instance, shows a heavy dub influence despite sounding 100% Panda Bear. Other tracks like Alsatian Darn show that a song need not have a lot of dramatic sonic motion to be compelling, much like the music of composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Tomboy is incredibly rewarding for those willing to step a little out of their musical comfort zone and it is an album that will likely sit near the top of many critics’ “Best of 2011” lists at the end of the year.

Find Tomboy in the catalog