Panda Bear

Panda Bear

Panda Bear is the solo project of Noah Lennox, an American musician from Charlottesville, United States, born in 1978. He is a founding member of Animal Collective and also a member of Jane. Lennox is associated with rock and indie, and the project is also linked with experimental, psychedelic, freak folk and folk music.

Background

Lennox grows up in the Roland Park area of Baltimore, Maryland. As a child he plays sports and studies piano and cello. He later sings tenor in his high school chamber choir. After leaving Boston University in 2000, he moves to New York and focuses on music full time.

Solo work

His first solo release is the self-titled Panda Bear in 1998, issued on Soccer Star Records, a label founded by Deakin, his Animal Collective bandmate. He then puts the project aside while concentrating on Animal Collective, before returning to it in 2004 with Young Prayer.

He follows that with Person Pitch in 2007, one of his best-known solo records. Later releases include Tomboy in 2011, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper in 2015, Buoys in 2019 and Reset in 2022, a collaborative album with Peter Kember, also known as Sonic Boom. That album is credited to Panda Bear & Sonic Boom.

Animal Collective and related work

In Animal Collective, Lennox is primarily responsible for percussion, while also contributing vocals and a range of other instruments. He later works more with samples as part of that role. The name Panda Bear comes from an early tape of his music, on which he draws a panda.

Later release

Sinister Grift is the eighth studio album under the Panda Bear name. It is a collaboration with Deakin and is co-produced by the pair, with additional contributions from Geologist, Avey Tare, Rivka Ravede of The Spirit of the Beehive, and Cindy Lee.