Pond — Stung!

Pond
Stung!
Spinning Top Records

Official Site

Perth, Australia psych darlings Pond returns to new unrestrained form and an album that reaches beyond their past few releases of nicely contained digestible packages. Three years past and an album featuring 14 songs of beauty and expression that takes their psychedelic prowess to new heights. Stung! is a standout in over a decade-long career.

This album is so much fun! From the jean jacket cosmic ride of “Neon River” and the deep mind trip of “Black Lung” to the angular funk of “So Lo,” there is nothing this band cannot tackle without putting perfection to it.

Turning this release into a double album is a statement of long hair denim ecstasy escaping to a world beyond simple reality and having the confidence to stretch these songs into an experience. When you hear “Sunrise for the Lonely,” the possibilities of expression become limitless, reaching beyond rock norms and turning simple prose into art. The song bleeds into the serious analog drifting of “Elf Bar Blues.” And when you think they have gone beyond the edge of reality, they churn out the psychedelic masterpiece “Edge of the World, Part III.” With so much layering and brushstrokes in this song, you just have to stop and let it all soak in. And at just over eight minutes, it should please every Rush, Yes and Genesis fan. This is Pond blowing your mind!

Their songs feel like classics in the best way possible. This is a band who has done their research and practiced all of the moves, then burned it all to the ground and created their own new cool. If you are a dreamer and want to stretch your mind into new dimensions, Pond’s magnum opus is worthy of any rock collection. Cherish it!