Lisbon and its surroundings brought them together. Although they were already united musically, separated only by the constraints of age. It was possible to connect the dots even before hearing what Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) – both of whom hide behind monikers – would be capable of achieving together. Reset, their 2022 debut album, made this obvious to the vast majority. A? Of WHEN cements this affinity. Better still, it revitalises the child within each of them.
As young people, they want to make a difference. A few weeks ago, their project announced that it would be stepping away from social media and the online world. Their music would no longer be available on streaming platforms, and the musicians would seek more face-to-face connections, just like in the old days. Concerts, radio programmes, listening parties, appearances in record shops – situations that foster human contact, real interactions, and a return to a place that once belonged to them and where things made more sense. Essentially, a real connection. And this is actually well documented, in Kember’s case, in Graham Holliday’s book, A-side: Are Your Dreams At Night 1985 Sizes Too Big?, about the experience of seeing Spacemen 3 live in 1985; and, regarding Lennox, one need only look for articles on how Animal Collective grew in the early 2000s thanks to an active presence in the real world, with gigs in shops for a lucky few, particularly when they first came to Europe.
In 2026, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom offer an escape from the exhaustion we’re experiencing today. How? A? Of WHEN is an album about taking action. About looking back, to the past, and building on that. It sounds like a classic before it’s even a classic. It sounds just as important – without exaggeration – as Person Pitch. However, let’s be realistic, it won’t be, because certain things have their moment, their time. But the truth is there: these new songs that Noah and Pete present depict a more connected world, from one place to another, from two artists who want us to feel that something is happening – and that this happening isn’t just the exhaustion of the present. Because, if it is, what on earth are we doing here? To each their own. But their ‘when’ is now. And now is now is now. With these vibrant songs, performed live, at the very moment these ideas are bubbling away.
