LOOKING for the next Beck, a whiz who dishes out killer tunes with wide-eyed pizzazz?
Here's a triumvirate of talents for your consideration: London's Four Tet aka Kieren Hebden and across the Atlantic pond, Minneapolis' Fog aka Andrew Broder and, yes, Pennsylvania-born Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox.
Lennox, of course, has been earning raves as part of the fascinating New York quartet, Animal Collective, concocting out-of-this-world sound melanges.
As a solo act, he has been joyfully restless. His third release, Person Pitch, is his most accomplished, and an indication that he may well become the Brian Wilson of Generation Y.
Now based in Portugal with his wife and young daughter, the chap has fashioned his own answer to The Beach Boys' 1966 classic Pet Sounds - brilliantly textured, psychedelic and invigorating.
It's as quizzical as you can guess from its collage artwork, containing anything from birds' chirping to possibly elephant-calling.
The sound, similarly, is a cosmopolitan's taste radar, with him name-dropping acts as wide-ranging as Caetano Veloso, Vashti Bunyan, Phil Collins and Aphex Twin on the CD sleeve.
At 45 minutes long with seven tracks, this is an apt summation of late 20th and early 21st century pop music.
The opening track, Comfy In Nautica, comes along like a Noah's ark (pun intended) of creature vibes, a cartload of faraway vocals and angelic back-up buoyed on a polyphonic spree of claps, sampled loops and electronic effects. The spirit is beatific, embracing and a little sappy.
Take Pills is a swooning head-trip, one part Matmos and two parts Beach Boys, with the song segueing halfway into an irresistible toe-tapper, while the schizoid Good Girl/Carrots flits between sci-fi adventure and percolating street percussion.
The masterpiece, though, is Bros, a 13-minute Technicolor travelogue, with Panda as tour guide masterfully marshalling all sounds big and small into a gorgeous testament to what it means to be alive and open.
So cinematic is his vision, it's best to sit back and let the sonic waves wash over you. Then let your imagination free.
