REVIEW: Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
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So much electronic music is cold, with its humanness buried under synthesized sounds and textures. It results in art that comes across as stale – more uniform than unique. UK electronic artist/producer Golda Panda (aka Derwin Panda) eschews such classification with his creative use of sampling and non-electronic instruments. On his debut, Lucky Shiner, Panda has crafted an exciting, distinct, and very personal auditory autobiography built upon samples and loops of vocals, mallets, strings, synthesizers, xylophone, Japanese music, and various other instruments and sounds. It all comes together to form an album that is warm and organic, despite its electronic construction.

After living and studying Japanese culture, language, and history at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies in Japan for two years, the country naturally became a significant influence on Gold Panda – and helped to shape the sound of Lucky Shiner. By fusing elements of various genres – from the sample-heavy grooves of hip-hop to the repetitious, entrancing drones of ambient – and crossing cultural sounds (e.g. Japanese music in “Same Dream China”, religious Indian chants in “India Lately”), Gold Panda winds up with a sound that imbibes his songs with a universal appeal and flavor. In “Vanilla,” a hum resonates underneath a jittery loop and works towards an emotional peak marked by beautiful, almost sacred-sounding, string passages that recall Panda’s time in Japan. “You” runs on a manipulated vocal sample that works as both a melody and a rhythmic accentuation.

With a pair of headphones on, Lucky Shiner evolves into quite a head trip. Submerging oneself into the sea of samples and loops opens the door for a greater appreciation of Gold Panda’s careful consideration for his arrangements. A head trip is defined as being “mentally exhilarating,” and, in its best moments, that’s exactly what Lucky Shiner is. The album can lack distinction and direction at certain points, but, overall, starts and finishes strong.

Lucky Shiner plays with a subtle amount of crackle and pop throughout, just as if you were hearing it on vinyl. It’s this distinct characteristic that lends itself to the album’s overall warmth – and attractive realism. By chopping up and carefully piecing together his songs, Gold Panda proves himself to be a thoughtful, tasteful, and skilled arranger. Panda set out to make structures as opposed to grooves, and, with Lucky Shiner, he’s succeeded, crafting an album that is active and intricate without being overbearing and overproduced. It’s delicate, but powerful, capable of causing involuntary bobs of the head and taps of the foot even with its raw, personal tones. Here, what Gold Panda accomplishes best is expressing his heart without being overly dramatic or heavy-handed, finding a convincing way to make an eclectic mix of outside samples and sounds into something entirely his own. As a debut album, Lucky Shiner is a bright introductory statement that is stimulating, soothing, and understatedly hypnotic.

BUY: Lucky Shiner is out now on Ghostly International. Pick it up on Amazon, Amazon MP3 ($5.99), iTunes, or directly from Ghostly here.