Review | Pond – Stung!

Label: Spinning Top Records

By Hamish Monk

Despite being part of the neo-psych wave, Pond is set apart from its peers by always retaining one foot (or toe, perhaps) in the distinctly ‘classic rock’ camp – with a head-bow to giants like Bruce Springsteen or The Rolling Stones.

And yes, the wry, mysterious and eccentric frontman, Nick Allbrook, even moves like a mini Jagger on stage; full of physicality and surrender. He’s like a psychedelic Rumpelstiltskin, though – as proven on Pond’s new album, Stung! – Allbrook can himself spin gold from thin air. 

Much to the band’s credit, its genre posture is somewhat bucked on ‘Stung!‘, which draws influence from the R&B and disco spheres.

Just have a listen to the dancy single, ‘So Lo‘, on which one can easily imagine Prince singing – an artist who Allbrook let slip a partiality for, when he selected a scented prayer candle from the ‘Diamonds and Pearls‘ era in a 2019 episode of ‘What’s In My Bag?’

Perhaps in the transcendental, flickering light of that waxy merch, Allbrook dreamed up this homage. ‘So Lo‘: all taught with groove, overflowing with funk and busting with toppy rhythm guitar.   

The other single, ‘Neon River‘, is again that foot of Pond’s which always finds a hold in its ancestry – offering deference to traditional psychedelia, such as early Pink Floyd or 70’s Tod Rundgren. Nevertheless, there is always that inimitable scent of brash and juicy, fuzzy-rubber-gumption, which intermittently punctures a tranquil, ‘Empire Ants‘-esque motif. Here is the LP’s entry point for fans of The Flaming Lips or Led Zeppelin. 

The album’s eponymous single, ‘(I’m) Stung‘, meanwhile, is a bone-toss to the archetypal Pond fan. It is an immediately catchy head-bop, landing triumphantly from outer-earth orbit on two feet, fists on hips – with some Harrison-esque slide guitar, to boot. It’s the shimmering homerun of the project: just imagine ‘My Sweet Lord‘ on psilocybin. 

Other tracks worth a mention on this mammoth double LP include the 8-minute eargasm that is ‘Edge of the World Pt.3‘, the final installation of a song-trilogy begun on Pond’s electrifying forth studio album, ‘The Weather‘ and ‘O, UV Ray‘, which Allbrook says borrows its DNA from ‘Beetlebum‘ by Blur. 

Looking down at ‘Stung!‘ from one thousand feet, it’s clear the album is a project made by people who have done their homework. When it comes to the music history that helped birth it, ‘Stung!‘ is supremely self-aware and poised. It is retrospective while at the same time contributing something new to the conversation around the relevance of today’s rock music, and the political statements it should make.