Tomboy

Tomboy is the fourth solo album by American musician Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox), released on April 4, 2011 initially as an online stream and later physically. It was mixed by UK musician Sonic Boom. In contrast to the sample-based composition of the previous Panda Bear album Person Pitch (2007), the recording of Tomboy features a stripped-down sound built around guitar processed through Korg M3-M workstation modules. The album peaked at no. 29 on the Billboard 200. It was included on 2011 best-of lists by publications such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Background Following the success of his previous album Person Pitch (2007) and Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009), Lennox was looking to move beyond the restrictions of composing with a sampler and record something "with a heavy focus on guitar and rhythm," influenced by bands like Nirvana and the White Stripes; he later qualified that these artists' influence should not be taken too literally, as "their sound is over-driven and buzzed out and that wasn’t something I was really into. But […] it was exciting to see that from a simple set up, these bands can crank out some really heavy jams. I think I just took inspiration from that kind of approach.” He also mentioned being inspired by the singing of "Frank Sinatra or crooner guys. It’s a really singular thing, but really powerful, too." In contrast to Person Pitch, which was recorded in his well-lit apartment overlooking Lisbon, Tomboy was recorded in a basement studio where "there was no light, it was really dark and it was kind of lonely." During the sessions, Lennox ran his guitar through a Korg M3-M workstation module, which is commonly part of a synthesizer. He explained that he "had this idea of a triangle where the voice was at the top, some sort of guitar element on one side, and then some sort of really basic rhythm on the other side. The song "Benfica" is a reference to the Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica.