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Hear Gold Panda Swoon and Bloom on ‘We Work Nights’

Gold Panda 'We Work Nights' Half of Where You Live

London’s Gold Panda has finally decided to stop teasing us. After releasing the lush and promising glitch feast that was 2010’s Lucky Shiner, the dude born Derwin (last name unknown) disappeared into the touring circuit, leaving us grasping at whatever recorded bits and pieces came our way. There was Charli XCX’s “You (Ha Ha Ha),” which sampled a Panda track, and more recently Sole’s “Extremophile,” produced by the Golden one.

But until last month’s “Brazil” we had no idea whether a new long-player was in the offing. We now know GP’s Half of Where You Live is due out June 11 on Ghostly International, and just in case we were skeptical, a new track has arrived. “We Work Nights” is calm yet propulsive, powered by a steady beat and micro-chopped strings and things, but colored by lush ambient textures the like of which were last heard on Flying Lotus’ lovely Until the Quiet Comes.

According to a press release, the title of this latest entry not only refers to Gold Panda’s bleary-eyed gigs, but to the crappy jobs he’s had to hold in order to get by. For instance, working “at 4am at Stansted Airport helping idiots onto buses to get to the long-stay car park [or] working in a hospital car park giving tickets to the badly parked bereaved.” In other words, “This song is dedicated to anyone getting paid shit money to work terribly unsociable hours.”

Gold Panda tour dates:

June 1 – Neustrelitz @ Immergut Festival
June 12 – London @ The Electric, Brixton
June 13 – Barcelona @ Sonar Festival
June 20 – Paris @ La Trabendo
June 21 – Amsterdam @ Melkweg
June 22 – Berlin @ Fetsaal Kreuzberg
June 28 – Somerset,@Glastonbury Festival
August 12 – Portugal, Optimus Alive Festival
August 16 – Padova, Radar Festival
August 18 – Brussels @ Dour Festival
August 19 – London @ Lovebox Festival
August 20 – Ireland @ Longitude Festival
August 8 – Rees-Haldern, Haldern Pop Festival
August 17 – Yorkshire, Beacons Festival
September 11 – Atlanta, GA @ The Basement
September 12 – New Orleans, LA @ Hi Ho Lounge
September 13 – Dallas, TX @ Loft @ Palladium Ballroom
September 14 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
September 17 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
September 18 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
September 19 – San Diego, CA, Casbah
September 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theater
September 21 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
September 22 – Arcata, CA @ Humboldt State University, Kate Buchanan Room
September 25 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
September 26 – Portland, OR @ Branx
September 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
September 28 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s (Decibel Festival)
September 29 – Boise, ID @ Reef
October 1 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
October 2 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
October 3 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
October 4 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
October 5 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
October 6 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
October 8 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
October 9 – Montreal, QC @ S.A.T.
October 10 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
October 11 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
October 12 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
October 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer