Collection: 9. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Person Pitch is the third solo album from Noah Lennox, yet it seems difficult to take measure of the album except as it relates to his regular work as a member of Animal Collective. (This is partially because Person Pitch was the first AC-related album to really lure some of their more skeptical listeners into the tent.) In many ways, the album seems the most succinct possible distillation of exactly what qualities Lennox brings to the Collective’s kaleidoscopic mix. And it certainly doesn’t hurt Person Pitch’s cause that those very qualities– the beatific melodies, the multi-tracked choral vocals, and the general head-in-the-clouds drift– tend to be the most immediately appealing draws of the AC universe.

The premise for Person Pitch is fairly simple– take the production techniques and repetition of minimal techno and apply them to what might otherwise be relatively straightforward dreamy guitar pop. In Lennox’s hands, however, this basic template becomes a pathway for sublime invention, as his layered loops of acoustic guitar, overlapping voices, and stray sound effects encircle his songs like halos of sunlight. The album balances widescale epics “Bro’s” and “Good Girl/Carrots” with such irresistible short pieces as “Ponytail” and the radiant “I’m Not”, resulting in a cohesive whole that is lean, symmetrical, and filled with a continual abundance of fresh surprises and discoveries. –Matthew Murphy / Pitchfork.com