Half of Where You Live, as its inspiration would suggest, covers a lot of ground, more than can be taken in properly on first listen, but this is the kind of record on which there is still more to be discovered after listen number 10.
Somehow, Half of Where You Live goes beyond beats, samples, loops and waveforms. On this particular journey, Gold Panda is part storyteller and part electronic folk hero.
Warm, thoughtful and special, ‘Half Of Where You Live’ furthers Gold Panda’s winning streak, impressing at every juncture and moving its creator further toward the light.
Ultimately the success of Half of Where You Live lies not in Gold Panda repeating old tricks, but in how he's expanded his repertoire to include new sounds, and his aesthetic proves sturdy enough to accomdate them.
It has resulted in him stepping further away from his peers into his own territory, without really covering a significant amount of new ground. It lacks the punch of Lucky Shiner, but is no less charming.
Half of Where You Live is a strong follow-up from a producer who’s underrated due to his patience and steadfast refusal to be ostentatious. His music is calm and self-evident, finding memorability in its creator’s confidence with a tune.
While Half of Where You Live is a slightly more streamlined electronic album than his debut, it still manages to be a transporting work that is easy to enjoy as a hip, calming background mood piece, and stands as a nice, fitting addition to the Ghostly International catalog.
Gold Panda has come up with another fine album with some standout moments, but overall Half Of Where You Live doesn’t quite have the coherence or impact of its predecessor.
Gold Panda shows himself to be a more mature, more skilled architect of sound, creating vast textures that expertly render the materiality of his samples.
While Half Of Where You Live is structured remarkably well, its definitive moments lack that particular magnetism that’s always been at the heart of Gold Panda’s music.
Very much on par with its predecessor, in that it goes for heights and delivers just that. Although it may be lacking the originality of his previous work, he still manages to keep it organic and vibrant just the same.
BEST TRACKS: We Work Nights, Flinton, Community, Reprise, Junk City II, Brazil
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