Collected Animals

I was just learning the chords to Friendship Bracelet (from here) when I realized that it's really interesting from a compositional standpoint. The song uses all 12 major chords (C, C#, D, D#... and so on), as well as 3 minor chords (F#m, Am and Bm). The composition of the song is pretty amazing considering PB isn't a classically trained musician (although I think I recall reading that he did learn how to read music in his high school choir).

It starts out on E major, moves down a whole step to D, then once again to C. Then it stays in C major for a fleeting moment, but suddenly modulates to F major by a very strange, seemingly random series of chords: Bb - Ab - G - F - Eb - C - F. The C - F is a V - I cadence, establishing us in the key of F major, a half step up from where we started (E major).

At this point the sequence of chords repeats starting on the line "And like so many other things", but now all the chords are up a half step. The sequence of chords repeats two more times, also up another half step each time: to F# ("But I don't want to sound as though...") and then to G ("And still to say I've made..."). So the same melody and chords are repeated a total of 4 times throughout the song, but each time starts on a different key. You could argue that each of those sequences of chords contains several key changes themselves...so basically, the song is constantly changing keys, never staying in exactly the same place.

Possibly the weirdest part of the song is at the line "what acts / what cost", where the chords go A# - G# - F# - E. Going down a whole step three times in a row like that has a unique sound, it gives me this eerie sinking feeling.* The rest of the song ("Cannot be destroyed...") is a peculiar mix of E major, C major, and G major. The outro of the song ("Don't break...") simply vamps on an F major chord—the only real moment of stillness in this constantly moving, shifting song.

Sorry this post went on for so long I took a few music theory classes but am no means an expert. I just thought this song was particularly interesting to analyze. It's kind of cool to see that Panda Bear has a wide range of songwriting styles, since songs like Bros and Take Pills only really use 1 or 2 chords.

*This is such a cool sequence of chords because it doesn't really make any sense in any key. The only other example of this I can think of off the top of my head would be "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" by Ben Folds Five

PB's not a classically trained musician, but I recall him saying that he likes songs that are compositionally interesting. I feel like Tomboy was him flexing his compositional muscles (and parts of young prayer). I don't blame you for analyzing this song so much, it has some funky stuff going on. Weird chord changes, really cool though. I found a lot of this album to be interesting like that, where he plays with chord changes and song structure, etc. Other highlights for me in a similar sense to Friendship Bracelet are Alsatian Darn and Slow Motion. Idk why Slow Motion is such a standout in that sense to me.... maybe because I love it when musicians can utilize repetitiveness in the right way

You could argue that each of those sequences of chords contains several key changes themselves...so basically, the song is constantly changing keys, never staying in exactly the same place.

Exactly. That's what makes this song so cool to me. It shifts and grows in weird ways, and, like you said, never stays in the same place. This weird sort of "moving-on-ness" about it is neat because it has the same connotation as the lyrics

This weird sort of "moving-on-ness" about it is neat because it has the same connotation as the lyrics

This is so cool! Never thought about it that way but that's v true

And yeah, all of Tomboy is really interesting, compositionally. I love in Last Night at the Jetty, at "You have your ways, I have my ways, we have our ways". That Dm > Cm > Bbm > F is so good.