“Last Night at the Jetty” is the third single released by Noah Lennox (known by the stage name Panda Bear) and yet another reason to look forward to his massively anticipated fourth LP Tomboy. Something to take note of is how the coveted, sample heavy Animal Collective/Panda Bear sound continues to be less relevant. Here, Lennox makes further use of synths and guitar, in turn creating an album that sounds live and organic.
This song's greatest success, however, is the improved production. Tomboy's first two singles “Tomboy” and “You Can Count On Me” were criticized for sounding quiet and uncharacteristically sparse. “Last Night at the Jetty” comes across as a dramatic shift in the right direction; with a new producer mixing the album, everything just sounds fuller and more refined.
You can say this about the synths and the samples, but the vocals are easily the most notable. Lennox has never sounded better, and at the two minute vocal crescendo, the repetition of “I know” along the building percussion and swirling samples transcend this song into an unpredicted level of aural bliss.
