Panda Bear is really Noah Benjamin Lennox, who is also a member of Animal Collective. This is his fifth record.
The lyrical themes of the album center around personal growth, although Lennox wanted to discuss issues on a larger scale because he wanted to avoid "self-obsession or narcissism". The drum programming on Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper was influenced by 1990s hip-hop. Specifically, Lennox cited Dust Brothers, Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, and J Dilla as influences.
The opening track, "Sequential Circuits", is a neo-psychedelia song that was described as "swirling" and "a[s] pure as a babbling brook". "Tropic of Cancer" contains a harp sample from the Nutcracker suite and its lyrics concern the death of Panda Bear's father. His vocal harmonies on the song were compared to those of The Beach Boys. [source]
The set is pressed on two 150g records. I like this record.
