(7/10/26) Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - A ? Of WHEN

Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s second album together, A ? of WHEN, maintains the sense of musical play brought forth in their triumphant 2022 debut together, Reset. It is built on loops of harp and sequences of steel drum, webs of pedal steel and even bits of a mariachi band. These are, of course, deliberate choices, sounds and textures they’ve never used and that offered a clear sonic break from the success of Reset. It works, too. The pastoral psychedelia of “Something Like Dreaming,” the Wall of Sound soul sway of “Like a Moth to a Flame,” the wildly warped skiffle simplicity of “Revive Him”: Listening to A ? of WHEN feels like being a kid inside this pair’s musical playground, beaming as you bound from station to station.