Noah Lennox says Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is his hip-hop album. Lennox's fifth solo record as Panda Bear is the one influenced by how hip-hop producers such as 9th Wonder, Prince Paul, Pete Rock and Jay Dee took familiar beats back in the day and made them shine.
“There’s a specific way of using drum breaks especially within productions from that time which were really inspiring,” Lennox explains from his home in Lisbon. “Sometimes I used the exact same drum breaks as they did, because so many of the same drum breaks were used on different tracks.”
That the elements were so familiar spooked the producer initially. “There’s a part of music culture which is all about trying to find the most exotic stuff so I was wary and a little scared at first that the beats were so common and familiar.
“But then I did a 180 and felt there was a challenge and an excitement in taking something which was so everywhere, and hackneyed in a way, and sculpting something new and idiosyncratic that had so much of my personality and character in it that no-one else could have made it but me.”
Flavours are combined
Lennox likens the process to a chef at work in a kitchen. “The ingredients that are available have been pretty much the same since the beginning of time. But the way that flavours are combined, the way things are presented or packaged, the way things are seasoned and the mixtures and combinations of different ingredients that are put together can create something which is new or fresh in some way.
“That’s how I like to think about sound and music production. The frequency spectrum has been the same forever but the way we produce things and combine sounds and instruments and the tones we choose to combine can produce experiences that are in some way new.”
The album title is more a nod to Lennox’s fondness for old dub records than a play on mortality. “There’s nothing on the album that talks about death in any literal sense. I liked the title on a bunch of levels. It tipped the hat to old dub reggae albums from the 1970s, where you have one record producer or musician meeting another and signifying a collaborator. That was appealing.
“But I also thought it set up the relationship which I thought existed in a lot of songs where there’s something abrasive and dark and heavy and difficult to digest. There’s an element of that in many of the songs and it’s often juxtaposed with a bubbly kind of light and casual sound. I liked how the title reflected that relationship.”
It could also have been titled Panda Bear Meets Sonic Boom, as the Spaceman 3 producer worked with him on the album. "I think we have a very similar target for the music that we make," says Lennox. "We have very different strengths and weaknesses but we definitely complement one another in trying to strip away everything from the music that doesn't need to be there. It's about getting down to the very vital part of a piece of music in a very graceful way.
“It’s a feeling more than a thought. The first third of the process of making songs is strictly mental but when you go past that, I find myself trying to reject anything mental about the process. The critical impulse can be overwhelming sometimes. You get a feeling that the song has too much or too little. The danger is certainly there. There’s a specific balance that every song needs to reach to be fully effective.”
Aside from the new Panda Bear record, Lennox is also beginning to find headspace for Animal Collective and a follow-up to Centipede Hz. "In the past couple of months, we've started talking about things and preparing inspirations and comparing ideas to see what matches up for us. We're trying to throw everything together to come up with some sort of cohesive direction or plan for the stuff. I haven't written any songs yet for it, but it's on the horizon now."
While the Lennox who made this record is older than the producer who made Person Pitch or Tomboy, he feels some aspects remain crucially the same.
“From a lyrical standpoint, if I’m doing it right, I’m expressing my current state of mind and I hope that as I grow and get older, the words I use and the descriptions I make reflect that growth and change.
Different types of sound
“But on the other hand, I can’t imagine losing that sense of wonder I have about the power of sound or having a mind that’s open and flexible about dealing with different types of sound. I have a four-year-old son and it’s amazing to see how he responds to weird little sounds that will happen during the day. It’s a healthy reminder of how you can be really effective in finding these strange sounds all over the place if you keep yourself open to it.
“As a creative person, I’m very restless. I find exploration of sound and having an adventurous spirit about sound is what excites me most. I can’t see myself losing that. Standing still and thinking I’ve solved the riddle seems contrary to everything that’s interesting and inspiring about music to me.”
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is out now on Domino
