Panda Bear - Surfer's Hymn

Panda Bear released his album ‘Tomboy’ earlier this year, and now there’s a video to accompany the track Surfer’s Hymn which you can watch on this page. Shot in grainy black and white, it features a group of people in skeleton costumes who decide to go surfing. We got Sam Fleischner, the director, to give us a little insight to the idea and process behind this lovely video:

“For me Panda Bear’s music is similar to surfing. It is about going to a place where time goes away and thoughts get taken over by feelings. Last winter I was editing a film in the same studio where Sonic Boom was mixing Tom Boy. I got to hear a bunch of the tracks as they were fully forming, and I knew I wanted to make a video. Then came spring time and some old surf boards with wheels on them were sitting around the mssng peces studio. My friend Tony and I realized they’d be a good fix for surfer’s hymn, so I sent the idea to Noah who blessed the endeavor. He just requested that we have good times making it. From there it was really a big collaborative effort: Andrew Vanwyngarden, my number 1 surfing buddy suggested to make it a dedication to fallen surfers, which I combined with Scott Thrift’s idea to project onto graves. Josh Nussbaum suggested to shoot with Phosphors and infrared. I got my friend from Zoo York to provide a really great group of young team riders, and then several other friends hand painted the costumes, and Dark Igloo made the titles. The whole thing came together in about a week and the shoot was only 6 hours long.”

Paw Tracks released Panda Bear’s album ‘Tomboy’ on 12th April 2011