Looking Inwards
* Panda Bear: 01 (untitled) (4.5 mb) | 04 (untitled) (7.5 mb) | 05 (untitled) (4.5 mb)
From Young Prayer : Paw Tracks : PAW2
In general, I’m a huge fan of the winter time. I love the cold and the snow, and how the city seems quieter and less full of people. But there are parts of it that I dislike. The sun isn’t out nearly as much and the days are usually more overcast. Plus I tend to go into “hibernation” mode (this could potentially be referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder) and require more alone time. And one of the things I’ve been listening to, to get through these times, is the beautiful music of Panda Bear.
Mr. Bear is 1/4 of the Animal Collective (probably one of my favorite musical discoveries of this year) and usually contributes vocals and drums to that group. This album finds Mr. Bear picking up the acoustic guitar and composing beautiful music based on the themes of life and death and the celebration of both. Young Prayer was written and conceived in response to the death of his father and, as you can probably imagine, is an incredibly naked and personal album. Though the arrangements are fairly simple, the emotions are complex, with the songs flowing together like one long prayer. The vocals on this album are the high point for me. With his unsteady tenor/falsetto singing nearly indecipherable lyrics.
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