Panda Bear has a way of stringing people along and getting away with it. For three years, he’s been working on Tomboy, his solo follow-up to 2007’s Person Pitch (TMT Review). All last fall, we patiently waited for the “late 2010” release date for Tomboy, with no returns but three 7-inch singles from the elusive oeuvre; the promise of a collaborative track on Ducktails’ latest album; a sneaker designed not only by Animal Collective, but one from Panda Bear too; and news of their curatorial duties for the May 2011 ATP UK.
Noah Lennox is a reasonable guy, and in the last year, he has given us some glimpse of Tomboy’s light to tide us over. If you saw Panda Bear play at all last fall, you probably heard some of the unreleased songs. As mentioned, there’s also the availability of “Tomboy,” “You Can Count On Me,” and “Last Night at the Jetty” (however limited it may be) throughout the latter half of 2010. But now, with the advent of a new decade, Panda Bear has announced to the Wall Street Journal (who, in an attempt to be hip, interviewed Panda Bear, Andre 3000, Sean Lennon, and a bunch of other cool people about their 2011 resolutions) that Tomboy is “really, really close to a final mix.” About time, Lennox.
In order to really push things into gear, Noah and his family are temporarily moving back to the US (from Portugal) to work more closely with Animal Collective. Let’s hope for a date before the world ends in 2012!
• Panda Bear: http://www.myspace.com/pandabear
[Photo: Ben Beaumont-Thomas]