Discussion around the latest release from Panda Bear, Animal Collective’s creative dynamo, highlights the uselessness of user review scores. While the album is far from perfect, I can’t help but feel that many users are unable to separate their emotional reaction to the record from the actual quality of the work itself.

That’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s pretty good. Experiencing new music for the first time is an emotional journey and I don’t think it’s even possible to consider art from a wholly subjective point of view.

But how do you arbitrarily assign a rating out of ten to an emotional reaction? Is that really possible?

Our case study, Buoys, is particularly difficult to separate from context. Animal Collective became bona fide internet darlings in the wake of 2009 release Merriweather Post Pavillion. Upon discovering their new favourite band, many listeners pored over the group’s past works with Panda Bear’s solo effort Person Pitch emerging as a favourite for many in online music communities.

Their newfound fame put a stronger focus on their work to come, including Panda Bear’s latest solo offering. This increased expectation inevitably led to disappointment when the album was finally released.

Buoys is a much less ambitious record than the artist’s previous works. This album builds on a relatively small selection of sounds and themes, in stark contrast to the deep and luscious content of Person Pitch. Musically, Buoys uses acoustic sounds and water sound effects to impart a nautical theme which creates a warm, almost nostalgic, atmosphere.

As someone who has grown up and lives a short distance from the sea, this album resonates with me in a way others may not experience. For me, the record conjures the feels on a long day by the seaside in the spring; wasting time at the pier, eating warm doughnuts and walking along stony beaches. The music attempts to bring the listener back to a simpler time, but if you don’t have a feeling like that to go back to, I can see how other listeners may feel disappointed.

Which brings us back to review scores. I came into this album with fairly low expectations and I left pretty uplifted, but that entirely emotional response based on feelings other people might not have. If someone points a gun at me and forced me to give this record a rating, I’d call it an 8/10.

But why?

8/10 is probably the same rating I’d give Assume Form by James Blake which came out this January. What am I saying by giving both these albums the same score? Am I saying that the emotions I felt from these records were similar? Because I don’t think they were. I don’t think they were even close, so how can I recommend both albums equally?

So perhaps a review score is meant to give the reader a vague idea of how enjoyable a piece is. Many listeners have rated it 4/10, complaining about how one-dimensional it is and the lack of structure. But are these detriments? I don’t think they are. Certainly, if you were expecting the grand soundscapes of Person Pitch you would feel short-changed, but is it fair to rate an album as compared to the artist’s previous works or should it be considered in a vacuum?

There is, of course, no right answer to any of these questions. How an individual might feel about review scores is subjective, much like how they might feel about the album itself. To me, it seems perverse to put an arbitrary rating on art, but clearly, I am in the minority here. All I can hope then is that people remain respectful of other people’s perspectives as what some may see as negative in music could be positive to others.