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Oct 31, 2022It’s clear that the duo found catharsis in not just paying homage to their influences but versing alongside them through darker times.
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The WireAug 17, 2022Reset is bright and cheerful, drenched in supersaturated colour and psychedelic sunshine. Most impressive is the way the music explicitly draws from the past without slipping into pastiche or retro-nostalgic recreation. [Sep 2022, p.48]
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Aug 17, 2022Brighter and airier than a lot of corona art, it might also be also more enduring. It’s a collaboration that invites listeners along for a ride between a now- distant musical past and the present.
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Aug 17, 2022If arguably too one-note to constitute a stone-cold triumph, the album serves as a charming side-bar to two stellar careers. It is a collaboration that soars without ever quite getting so close to the sun that its wings start to melt.
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Aug 15, 2022Panda Bear has enough talent to make one of his less-than-monumental works worth a listen. And although Sonic Boom sometimes overstuffs the record with unnecessary sounds, his chemistry with Panda Bear is natural. Perhaps next time they’ll leave the toy in the box, though.
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Aug 15, 2022Reset, in spite of its flaws, still offers a unique wrinkle in the Animal Collective fabric that's worth exploring. Even if you only come back for the saccharine highs, some of the record's more subtle moments will continue to tug at your ankles like a strong undertow.
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Aug 12, 2022The few hints towards more modern fare - the undulating yet ultimately forgettable ‘Whirlpool’, closer ‘Everything’s Been Leading To This’ with its ‘80s keys and distinctly ‘00s indie air - could’ve been left on the cutting room floor, but overall ‘Reset’ is as warm a listen as Sonic Boom’s near-forgotten records must’ve been in lockdown Lisbon.
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Aug 12, 2022It’s surely fair to deduce that the intended ‘reset’ is all about returning pop to its early years’ sense of wonder, both sonically and emotionally. On that level, its nine tracks resoundingly succeed.
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Aug 11, 2022Reset takes shape as a tribute to the consolatory powers of music and companionship, brimming with convivial charm and inner-voyage invention.
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Aug 11, 2022Even when other albums by Panda Bear or Sonic Boom have suggested positivity and low-stakes fun, none have quite delivered that feeling like Reset does.
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Aug 11, 2022Much of the joy in Reset comes in instances like these where Lennox and Kember wholeheartedly embrace the sounds of the past with a distinctly contemporary approach.
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Aug 11, 2022Panda Bear and Sonic Boom counter with the longevity of artists who have never compromised, and they give us the defiant Reset knowing that despair is a weapon in the hands of a present hell-bent on stamping out our souls.
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MojoAug 9, 2022The entirety celebrates the ecstatic simplicity of that era [1950s-60s] of pop. [Sep 2022, p.86]
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UncutAug 9, 2022Lennox and Kember create breezy sonic collages of sunshine melody, fluidly chugging rhythms and fizzing analogue synths without succumbing to full retro-jukebox pastiche. [Sep 2022, p.29]
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Aug 9, 2022It's the samples in particular, though, that give Reset a sort of whimsical timelessness. ... Like much of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's best work, Reset is disorienting — an album of songs that feels cyclical and never-ending.
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Aug 9, 2022Reset is a quick, fun album for fans of the slightly avant-garde. While there isn’t too much excitement throughout the album, the overall tone of the Rest is what will keep you coming back. It’s relaxed and just off-kilter enough to keep each song sounding fresh without trying too hard.
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Aug 9, 2022Reset revels in the whimsical sounds of ‘50s and ‘60s pop and rock but lacks the memorable songwriting that made much of the best music from that era so indelible.