CD of The Week

Of the quartet that comprises Animal Collective, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) has, by a large measure, the most rewarding output away from the primary group. From 2007's avant-garde Person Pitch to last year's Tropicália-influenced Sinister Grift, Lennox has followed his playful artistic whims and formed a catalogue nearly as impressive as that of his main band. One of his most fruitful other collaborations has been with Sonic Boom (Peter Kember of Spacemen 3), a fellow multi-instrumentalist and producer in possession of an endlessly creative mind, a deep record collection, and a seemingly idyllic life in Portugal. 2022's Reset was a loose and joyous album filled with vibey bangers and A ? Of When is more of the same, but with fewer samples and a more melancholy sound.

Reset's primary touchstones were 50s and 60s pop, with explicit interpolations of artists like The Drifters and Eddie Cochran acting as canvases for new, indelible melodies. A ? Of When almost entirely excludes this retro-collage approach, except for the intro to album highlight "Revive Him" which echoes the iconic chord progression that begins The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown," but with the addition of a spacey, whirring effect to provide a hint of quirky menace before multi-tracked harmonies accentuate a joyful chorus.

It's the tiny, smartly deployed flourishes that add significant intrigue to the album, where the ten songs have the effect of creating the same mood without sounding too much like one another. The title track features propulsive percussion and hand claps that match the narrator's desire to "keep trying" once he gets his "mission back." Meanwhile, "Like a Moth to a Flame" is longing and poignant with twinkling instrumentation and layers of production that unfold much like the wings of the titular creature. Closing track and lead single, "Graveyard" is a bit of an outlier with its noisier arrangement, but it has the same hypnotic pull as the rest of the album.

A ? Of When is another triumph for the team-up of Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, two musical kindred spirits creating inventive pop music that both engages from the initial listen and rewards repeated plays to fully capture the depth of the songwriting and production. The album is not the most audacious or ambitious work of either man's career, but it is among the most emotionally engaging and sonically inviting.

One further note is that A ? Of When is not streaming on any of the major music services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) You can purchase a digital download on Bandcamp or support your local record store through buying the LP or CD.