When you've been a part of such a big group as Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb have been, it's not surprising to have a lot of expectations on your solo work. As members of Animal Collective, Lennox and Dibb have contributed to some of the most iconic and recognizable experimental songs of the last couple decades. Thankfully their solo work under their monikers Panda Bear and Deakin is just as incredible. Last week the two took to the Thalia Hall Stage for a mind-melting set of experimental and psychedelics sounds that only they could perform.
Deakin was first up and delivered a completely enthralling set. Stationed at center stage with his mic, keys, synths, and guitar, there was nothing standing between Deakin and the crowd. Right from the get go he jumped into newer, maybe not even complete songs that just grabbed the audience within moments of their first tones. Around the second song, "Lighter" according to most setlists online, is when everything just fell into place. The song has all the qualities you'd want from an artist like Deakin: a perfect balance of meditative background tones, emotive keys, and Deakin's voice gently spread across all of it.
The rest of the set tread on more familiar territory with songs like "JUST AM" from his Sleep Cycle solo album, but it was all treated with the same level of freshness that his other songs carried. I honestly didn't think I would ever get the chance to see a solo Deakin show after, so for it to be as captivating as this one was I consider myself lucky.
As it came time for Panda Bear, my mind raced back to seeing Lennox and the band earlier this year at the Salt Shed. That set was right on the cusp of releasing his latest release Sinister Grift, which was co-produced by Deakin. I hoped this set would match that one's quality with maybe a few different songs line up. I'm happy to report that the set absolutely exceeded my hopes.
Panda Bear and the rest of the crew started things off with the incredible "Boys Latin" off Panda Bear Meats The Grim Reaper, a track that finds itself swimming along wonderfully as Noah Lennox's voice echos and distorts throughout. The back and forth echoing of syllables onto one another was hypnotizing, even as the song leads itself to a more traditionally melodic parts.Sandwiched between two covers (Angel Du$t's "Never Ending Game" and The Notwist's "Boneless") were a pair of Tomboy songs. The "Last Night at the Jetty and that album's eponymous track washed over the Thalia hall crowd nicely.
I was honestly surprised a song of Sinister Grift didn't make an appearance until well past the middle of the set. The dreamy and elegant "Venom's In" fed right into "Ferry Lady", one of the many more laid back and sunny tracks on newest album despite it's lyrics lamenting the end of a relationship.
The highest highs of the set came at the encore where the perfect three song sequence to finish the night felt the most sublime. The nearly jubilant "Ends Meet" and it pleasant disposition at the hard times and death fueled a sense of living in the moment for the crowd at Thalia Hall as they swayed their trouble away. "Virginia Tech" follows the same lead while being an even more boisterous song. "Don't want to lose/My direction" sang Lennox as the latter half of that lyric gets utter a bunch before being transformed: "Trying to mend/My depression". It all came to head with the final song of the night "Praise", a track the details the little frustrations between a father and his son. The band harmonized and rattled off the song with such fun determination that you couldn't help but let yourself go. Much like the last time I saw Panda Bear perform the song, it was a beautiful and worthy sendoff for a night of wild sounds.
All photos by Julian Ramirez.
