Noah Lennox’s records as Panda Bear always sound like they’ve been recorded near the beach. Sinister Grift follows Lennox’s excellent 2022 collaboration with Sonic Boom, Reset. That same energy carries into Sinister Grift, which Lennox recorded in his Lisbon home studio with Animal Collective bandmate Deakin handling production. If Sinister Grift often sounds like a bunch of old friends and loved ones getting together to jam while the meat sizzles on the grill, well, it is. Their disarmingly laid-back approach marks Sinister Grift as the least experimental and most accessible record in the Animal Collective universe.