Song You Need: Drift across the waves of Império Pacífico and Panda Bear’s “Aftershow”
Império Pacífico’s new album Clubs Hit is out now.
![Song You Need: Drift across the waves of Império Pacífico and Panda Bear’s “Aftershow”](https://thefader-res.cloudinary.com/private_images/w_760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best/Collage_Maker-05-Jan-2023-09.27-AM_l6noox/l-imperio-pacifico-photo-via-publicist-r-panda-bear-photo-by-fernanda-pereira.jpg)
The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
2022 was a legacy-confirming year for Panda Bear as a vocalist whose tender-yet-soaring presence gave the songs he was on all-encompassing intimacy, at times feeling like the best muse Phil Spector never had. He helped Braxe + Falcon revitalize French touch on "Step By Step," made deference sound sacred on "Did It Again" from L.A. beat scene vet Teebs, and teamed up with Sonic Boom, a forebear of the psychedelic electronic freedom Panda Bear works in, for the wonderful collaboration Reset. In December, he closed out the year with a feature on “Aftershow,” a single from Portuguese production duo Império Pacífico, and succeeded in keeping his streak alive.
On "Aftershow," Império Pacífico have crafted a lush backdrop for Panda Bear to inhabit, one that's quite unlike any of the aforementioned music. It begins as a slightly garnished metronome and unfurls into a Balearic beat with swooning synth pads that recall a My Bloody Valentine interlude. Panda Bear's compatibility with the music is apparent from his opening lyrics, lines that capture his talent for both the transcendent and deeply personal: "Leaning into a ray of light / Headed out if I'd known what's right." It's true that the song does have a winding down energy reflective of its title, but "Aftershow" has all the presence of the main event.