Panda Bear has announced some new music is coming soon! A Day With The Homies is a five song 12″ EP set for release on January 12th.
– Single 12” LP jacket and printed inner sleeve featuring lyrics
– Does not include a download card
A1. Flight
A2. Part of the Math
B1. Shepard Tone
B2. Nod to the Folks
B3. Sunset
The news came along following the message below posted on Facebook. I love how it begins…
It’s been my perception that these things tend to homogenize experience so I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t outline, in any specific way, the many choices involved in its creation. I appreciate your role as filter or translator, and by withholding my own blueprints for the album, I mean to encourage and cultivate your part in its trip.
There are, however, a couple of things I think might easily go unnoticed without mention, and the existence of these things, I’d wager, are important to the music’s success.
Maybe musicians aren’t supposed to explain their creation process all the time, but here it seems to matter.
The songs aren’t lyrically linear or narrative as such, though I did scatter pieces of longer-chewed themes across the tracks. I find they still work satisfactorily alone, but strengthen each other’s messages when combined.
Translation: “you’ll want to listen to this EP all at once…”
It’s not often anymore I find something specific to my life that feels worthwhile setting to song for others to consume. It’s a tough sell convincing myself that my own troubles warrant as much attention as those we all share. The strokes of the messages themselves are broad enough, then, that I think anybody can find a familiar face, if they care to look.
Panda Bear has always had a lot of feelings, so I hope those “troubles” aren’t too serious. He’s one of my favorite artists making anything these days.
I hoped to make something without frills or much embellishment, principally because I’ve found more fluff tends to equal less power. Since the juiciest action is entirely focused in the deeper zones of the frequency spectrum (at least from where I’ve sat), power was key.
The lion’s share of the noise is centered, or nearly, so both speakers get a taste. This is another nod towards power, but it also means HOMIES doesn’t work in the same way through headphones as it does out in the air.
I’d call this a call not to judge the album after listening on headphones, or off a laptop speaker or connected bluetooth thingy… the deeper zones of the frequency spectrum require better speakers.
My greatest hope with this stuff is for it to live like my favorite songs do, which is to say like comforts or companions. Thank you very much for listening and I hope “A Day With the Homies” can mean something to you.
My best to you and yours.
Noah
A Day With The Homies 12″ EP is out January 12th and will be a vinyl-only release. Pre-order it here.
In typical Panda Bear fashion, some of these songs have already made it out in a live setting. When he played Desert Daze a month back, four out of the five songs made it into the set. Check it out below.
