Kevin Parker’s departure from his former bandmates has had one positive outcome: without him, the neo-psychedelic rock – which Tame Impala have, to the disappointment of many, since turned their backs on – lives on in the music of Pond. With their eleventh studio album, Terrestrials, the five-piece band led by Nick Allbrook once again confirms its extraordinary talent for rousing melodies and ecstatic moments. To achieve this, the band set themselves strict rules: ‘No fuzz pedal. No ballads. No Pink Floyd shit.’ No sooner said than done. In the 37 minutes of consistently high-energy beats, only the closing track could be considered a ballad at a stretch; there’s absolutely no room for frills. You’ll also search in vain for endless, hazy guitar solos à la Roger Waters. Instead, the basic stylistic concept is: »Goths at the pub«.
Pond’s pub rock therefore draws on post-punk, new wave and gothic rock. The Church, Midnight Oil and the Sisters of Mercy send their regards. On the one hand, the songs express outrage at humanity’s destructive impulses and denounce the displacement of indigenous communities in Western Australia; on the other, they celebrate eccentric outsider culture Down Under. It does come as a surprise, then, that Parker features as producer and co-writer – though it’s less surprising that this happens to be the track with the most synths and the highest bpm.
