Gold Panda - The Work (LP)

Gold Panda’s fourth album, The Work, arrived on 11 November 2022 via City Slang, his first full-length since 2016’s Good Luck and Do Your Best. That six year gap hangs over the record in a good way. He has said the title nods to therapy and the ongoing process of getting better, and you can hear that sense of slow repair in the music. It is a patient, humane electronic album, built from the small textures and humble melodies he has always loved, yet more grounded and reflective.

Two early singles set the tone. I’ve Felt Better (Than I Do Now) drifts in like a morning after, all faded chords, clipped percussion, and a hook that feels half remembered. It is classic Gold Panda, the kind of loop that burrows into your afternoon and rearranges your pulse. The Corner is livelier but still wistful, its shuffled rhythm and chopped vocal fragments giving a feeling of walking a block you have known for years and noticing a new crack in the pavement. Both songs play to his strengths, the deft sample collage, the way a tiny motif can feel like a whole world.

The full album deepens that mood. He still favors dusty textures and small instrumental details, little mallet tones, soft-focus synths, and drums that sound like they were built from the hiss on the edge of a forgotten 7 inch. Yet he lets the structures breathe more. Tracks open slowly, then tilt into focus, as if he is allowing you to sit with an idea, work through it, and only then move on. There is warmth everywhere, but it is not cloying. You can put this on while making dinner, sure, though it rewards proper listening, the kind where you realize a bass line you barely clocked in the first minute has become the spine by the fourth.

Context helps. Lucky Shiner turned him into a small-room star back in 2010, and Half of Where You Live chased cities and movement, all forward motion. Good Luck and Do Your Best, recorded during time in Japan, was his sunniest set, bright colors and everyday joy. The Work feels like a quiet synthesis. It has Lucky Shiner’s intimacy and that 2016 record’s pastoral calm, with a new introspection that suits someone who has been honest about mental health and the grind of staying well.

Critics picked up on that tone. Coverage from places like Pitchfork and The Guardian talked about the album’s gentler center and its craft, and fans seemed to settle into it rather than treat it as a capital E event. That fits. Gold Panda has always been about rooms and routines. You can hear someone tinkering in a home studio, trimming a snare to make it sit better, finding a chord that feels like a clean breeze.

On vinyl, these songs bloom. The low end grows rounder, the high end softens, and those little percussive clicks land in a way that makes you notice their shape. If you are hunting for Gold Panda vinyl, The Work feels like one to shelve next to Lucky Shiner and pull down on rainy days. It is also a fine gateway for anyone browsing a Melbourne record store and wondering where to start, or for folks looking to buy Gold Panda records online who want something that plays beautifully from front to back. Collectors who like to line up Gold Panda albums on vinyl will appreciate how this one completes the arc of his catalog so far. And for listeners skimming vinyl records Australia wide, there is comfort in knowing this record suits an easy Saturday, coffee going cold, the needle tracing calm circles.

What lingers is the album’s tone of acceptance. Not resignation, more like a musician finding peace with his own voice and trusting small gestures. The Work does not chase trends. It does not turn itself inside out to prove anything. It moves with care, it lets ideas settle, and it finds beauty in restraint. Put it on when the house is quiet and there is actual work to do. It will keep you company without crowding the room, which is a gift, and a reminder of why this artist has mattered for more than a decade. If The Work vinyl crosses your path, do not overthink it. Bring it home and let the grooves do the slow, steady lifting.