Album Review: Panda Bear - Buoys

After the self-mixed, self-produced, self-everything-ed A Day With The Homies, for Buoys, Noah 'Panda Bear' Lennox invited round co-producer Rusty Santos, and musicians Dino D’Santiago and DJ Lizz to his adopted home of Lisbon for a cosy recording that Lennox has described as a new chapter for him.   

A retreat from the kaleidoscopic adventures of Person Pitch and his work with Animal Collective, Buoys is a warm blanket of snoozy home studio nonchalance, given away by titles such as Inner Monologue. It lacks urgency, immediacy and for the most part inspiration. Perhaps the best aspect of the album is its sparse, unfussy sound design which has the captivating spatial dynamics of an Arthur Russell record. But the biggest problem might be the songs themselves. There’s nary a memorable chorus and some bottom drawer lyrics (“Why did I fly so high?”), as songs slip by on an album that’s hard to remember once it’s finished. It’s - gasp - a tad boring, which from someone of Lennox’s resourcefulness is a crying shame.

In real life, buoys serve to steer ship captains away from making catastrophic errors. You can’t help but wish someone had done similar for Lennox here.