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.
But maybe more than ever, Sonic Boom and Panda Bear emerge through these 10 songs as two people with frank opinions about these times, with a real stake in the sway of the world. These tunes grapple with online exhaustion and pervasive depression, with political chicanery and ecological sustainability, all while advocating for respecting the power of luck and giving one another grace in a moment when very few of us actually know what the hell is happening. Has it ever been easier to complain publicly about something without trying to change it? Sonic Boom and Panda Bear are not content to gripe about circumstances or speculate about the fall on A ? of WHEN. They’re not going to stream these songs. They’re just going to sell them and give away bumper stickers that, hilariously, boast “I’m unfollowing Panda Bear & Sonic Boom.” The goal is for the music to create physical connections between people, to encourage them to enjoy a real experience in the world with it and each other.
