FRESH JUICE IS BACK IN BUSINESS, BABY! And guess who else is back? Australia’s most underrated band who we’ve been loving for ages, and I’m pumped for what they’ve got in store. Obviously, I’m talking about POND, duh. The Perth boys have just dropped ‘Daisy’, the opening track of their eighth (!) album, Tasmania. The band describe it as a “sister album” to 2017’s The Weather. Interestingly, The Weather is a dedication to their hometown and most isolated city on earth, Perth. I guess POND are just gonna do the rounds on every understated location in Australia. Broadmeadows next?
Following on from the previously released ’16 Days’ and ‘Burnt Out Star’, ‘Daisy’ is another sweet proggy psych-pop piece that expertly interpolates acoustic and electronic elements. As always, Nick Allbrook’s poetry and classic Australian story-telling that mask as lyrics are a compelling listen. Good luck unpacking his words, but they’re interesting above all. The combination of bright, stabbing keys and the tasty melody in the chorus are a winner. The six-minute epic gets a bit weird around the four-minute mark, calming down to Nick’s rambling, a cinematic instrumental and, randomly, some cute xylophone. I already know it’s one of the strangest songs I will listen to in 2019, but I fucking love it.
Tasmania arrives on March 1 via Spinning Top Records. It’s bound to be a goodie.
Check out the whacky video for ‘Daisy’ (filmed on Kulin and Nyoongar Nations land in Victoria) below.