Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Panda Bear
It takes a complex and accomplished musical mind to crystallise the sort of ideas showcased on Panda Bear‘s latest album, Sinister Grift. Somewhere between The Beach Boys and Syd Barrett, Panda Bear’s – Noah Lennox – album was a kaleidoscopic triumph that showcased an artist at complete ease with the multiple artistic voices he harbours.
A myriad of voices born from many lives lived, from New York to London and more recently Lisbon, Lennox has beaten the path of a weary travelling musician who then funnels their suffering into masterful albums for us to enjoy.
For now, Lisbon is mostly where Lennox resides – a coastal city accustomed to the breezy vocal harmonies so beautifully showcased in his latest album but with a cobbled history accustomed to the sort of darkness they inhabit. With his own DIY studio fully built and a quiet neighbourhood life in one of the continent’s finest cities, you’d be forgiven for thinking Lennox is above the day-to-day struggles of his listeners, but if anything, Sinister Grift is as on the nose as any of his prior work.
But while his record rips the chest open and bears all for the audience to see, his life outside the confines of a recorded album is full of weird gigs, prized possessions and illuminating studio sessions. While Lennox’s work is a meaningful conversation in a quiet corner, these quick-fire questions are a put-the-world-to-rights conversation over a coffee in a quirky Lisbon cafe.
Quick-fire Questions with Panda Bear:
1. Can you recommend us an album we’ve probably never heard?
“Justin Heathcliff – self-titled LP.”
2. What’s your most controversial cultural opinion?
“I’m not sure it’s controversial as much as uncommon: I feel like there’s very tribal and adversarial attitudes and points of view generally, and I don’t find myself joining in.”
3. What is the weirdest gig you’ve ever played?
“Acid Pizza at the first Animal Collective show in Minneapolis is definitely up there. The Lisbon Animal Collective show, where the audience had a surprise ferry ride to the venue, also sticks out.”
4. What was the last book you read? What would you score it out of ten?
“I’m not much of a reader, I have to say. I think the last one was Awareness by Anthony de Mello (thanks, Mom). Or the last Game of Thrones…I read the Thrones books on aeroplanes a bunch”.
5. What’s one gig in history you’d time travel to be at?
“Any James Brown show.”
6. What song are you most proud of so far?
“My favourites change, and I’m always partial to the new stuff…’Chores’ is one of my favs.”
7. You can spend a month in any place during any season; when and where are you going?
“St Malo in March or Japan anytime, but to be honest, I like being at home.”
8. When are you at your most creative?
“There’s not much rhyme or reason to it; it comes and goes. I like to try and be working when inspiration hits, it feels more like something you catch rather than something you generate.”
9. What is one strange rabbit hole that you’ve fallen down?
“Too many to count, but observing myself is evergreen.”
10. What’s the best venue in the world?
“My fav is Bowery Ballroom. Zdb here in Lisbon is up there.”
11. What’s your most prized piece of music kit?
“ATC scm50asl speakers.”
12. If your music existed inside the cinematic universe of one movie, which one would it be?
“Fantasia, Tár, Dazed and Confused. I don’t know, that’s tough.”
13. As 2024 brought about an Oasis reunion, who do you want to see reunite in 2025?
“Spacemen 3.”
14. Who would be in your dream supergroup
“Maria Reis, Tim Koh, Tome Silva, Rivka Ravede.”
15. John or Paul?
“No shade but John.”
