The Philadelphian psych-rockers Bardo Pond have been active in the experimental rock scene for more than twenty very productive years. Just giving their thick discography a quick glance becomes a rather daunting experience. The strange thing is that ‘Dilate’ (2001) has been collecting dust in my collection for quite a while without one single listen. That seems to happen to some records in my collection for whatever reason. And I don’t mind it actually; grabbing an untouched record and pressing play a couple years later does have a certain charm, and especially if it goes beyond all expectations.
So, picking it up, pressing play. ‘Dilate’ proves to have a quality which reminds me of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Isn’t Anything’. There’s the lurking feeling they can burst into noisy cacaphony anytime, and yet, most of the time they insist on a sparse, laidback and non-melodic approach with whispers and hints. It’s not epic, not groovy, but they certainly do know the art of saving the good stuff and keeping my curiosity at its peak. You can listen to this over and over again without feeling quite done with it. I love a record like that.
Moving on to the present and ‘Yntra’. A whole different story. For starters, ‘The Crawl’ is an intruiging, epic scream drowned in an ocean of sonic guitars. It’s the most monumental thing I’ve heard this year across all genres. Next, there’s the equally long, but more repetitive and tenacious ‘Side To Side’ which keeps pumping out heavy psychedelia.
And it gets even better. It glides into ‘A Crossing’ where I can sense some Amon Düül II-vibes when the flutes starts dancing with the atmospheric guitars. The tempo is fascinatingly somewhere between laidback and fast, and it’s like you’re being tossed around inside a washing machine. For twenty glorious minutes.
As soon as you’re in it, this is a record hard to escape from. It embraces the air and demands the attention from all ears within its reach; a quality worthy of an album at one of this year’s top spots.
Released on November 19th through Latitudes.
Posted by Bjarte Edvardsen.
