Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - A ? of WHEN [Indie Exclusive]

Panda Bear and Sonic Boom clearly had too good a time the first way around to leave it there. A ? of WHEN, released in July 2026 on Domino, is their second album together, and it carries over the sense of pure musical play that made 2022's Reset such a joy. This time the palette is wilder: loops of harp and sequences of steel drum, webs of pedal steel, even bits of a Mexico City mariachi band, all sounds and textures the pair had never reached for before. It's a deliberate break from Reset, and it lands.

Listening feels like wandering a kid's musical playground, bounding from one station to the next with a grin. "Something Like Dreaming" drifts into pastoral psychedelia, "Like a Moth to a Flame" sways with Wall of Sound soul, and "Revive Him" warps skiffle down to its bones. Across ten songs the duo keep the wonder up front while sneaking real weight underneath.

Because more than ever, these two have opinions about the moment. The record grapples with online exhaustion and pervasive depression, political chicanery and ecological sustainability, all while making the case for luck, grace, and giving each other a break when nobody quite knows what is going on. Fittingly, they would rather sell you the songs than stream them, and they will happily hand out bumper stickers reading "I'm unfollowing Panda Bear & Sonic Boom." The point is connection, the real, physical, in-the-world kind.

This indie exclusive edition comes pressed on pink vinyl. A warm, strange, generous record from two restless psych lifers, and a limited pressing worth grabbing.