By Geoff Topley
There are some bands who just want to let the music do the talking. American rockers Bardo Pond would be prime exponents of this ideology, as I could find very little information on them, even their own website offers little. I seem to recall them being touted by Mogwai around the time of their 2003 album On The Ellipse, which I bought back when there was such a thing as disposable income.
Their ninth album, Peace On Venus is the first encounter I've had with the band since then, I really should have been paying more attention. First and foremost, this album is a very curious beast. There are only five tracks and it lasts around the 39 minute mark. If long drawn out, repetitive fuzzy drone rock isn't your bag, then you're probably better off leaving this review at the next full stop. For those of us who enjoy the decadence of self-indulgent, elongated, distorted guitar music (with added flutes!), proceed, for this is a wonderfully woozy collection. The key word here is collection, for I think it is better to absorb the blissed out transcendental drone as a whole album in one sitting. It's very much an all weather album, perfect for hazy summer evenings but equally as good a companion for dark autumnal mornings.
Once the distorted guitars and slow beats of 'Kali Yuga Blues' grind out of your stereo, dragging you into their weary web of fuzzy swamp blues, there's no escape. Isobel Sollenberger's vocals are perfect for this music, an otherworldly beautiful howl, her simple mantra vocals are in no rush. When the time taken between sung lines is often as long as some band's guitar solos, you get an idea of the pace.
The two shorter tracks 'Taste' and 'Fir' have both been blessed with the most beguiling melodies. I'm very much of the opinion that when a tune is this good, you're perfectly entitled to repeat it as much as you want over the stretch of the song. Bardo Pond don't really bother much with guitar solos, well, not the kind that you would notice, instead Isobel plays some brilliant flute to encourage repeated plays of these drone symphonies.
Peace On Venus very much reminds me of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, in particular their stupendous live album 'Weld', which featured overtly long passages of winding guitars, endless but brilliant. The twin guitars of Michael and John Gibbons trying to out-do each other with low end dirty distortion, every crackle and feedbacked sigh resonating in a scuzzy fog. This reaches a zenith on the instrumental 'Chance', a ten minute jam that doesn't feel particularly long, because it's so good.
The album ends on another ten minute epic 'Before the Moon', which unlike the previous four tracks, is something of an endurance test. The vocals sound almost backtracked but the melody isn't as sweet as the other songs, the added menace isn't as pleasant on the ear. Musically, the track is as strong as the others though, I must advise that.
So as I previously mentioned, a curious beast, but a strong and mysterious one. Capable of trapping you and never letting you escape, once encountered, never to be forgotten. An utterly unique, simple but yet complex animal, this is something of a dark horse for that end of year best of list. Hunt it down.
