Gold Panda – Good Luck and Do Your Best

When you look beyond life's gauntlet of insufferable bullshit, sometimes we do live in a bright, wonderful world; Derwin Panda has decided it’s time to draw back the curtains and take a good look at it. Good Luck and Do Your Best is imbued with shiny-eyed, open-hearted optimism, and built with all the sensitivity and care that we’ve come to expect from anything Gold Panda touches.

Evocative of Derwin’s most recent travels through his beloved Japan, it’s also an exploration of life's little things. You can almost hear the dust on the vinyl he’s sampling from; as Gold Panda's deceptively simple repetitions start to unfurl, you realise that his technical wizardry refuses to reveal its component parts.

Instead, Good Luck and Do Your Best is more easily deciphered through visuals and nostalgia, memories of making tea or of splashing in a puddle. Pink and Green journeys slowly, almost imperceptibly, from day into dusk; the dulcimer on Time Eater is quietly, woozily bizarre; closer Your Good Times Are Just Beginning gives you a big hug with loungey, warm brass. So pretty, so welcoming, so ridiculously clever.