Western Australian psych-rockers POND will release their eighth studio album 'Tasmania' at the beginning of March, which follows on from their 2017 record 'The Weather'.
'Tasmania' has been described as a “sister missive” for 'The Weather', with Jay Watson explaining how the band took a similar approach to both records.
“We talked about maybe making a left-field album or doing something quite different, but then we decided to make one more in a similar way to the how we made the last one and just refine it a bit more, because we were all quite happy with the standard of 'The Weather',” Jay says.
“Normally with POND, as soon as we do something good we try to do something completely different and this time, although it is different, we thought we could refine it further rather than making a wild left turn. The next album will probably be the wild card now,” he laughs.
As the next instalment in the POND catalogue, and being written over two summers ago, Jay says he and the band are extremely happy with the way 'Tasmania' turned out as a body of work. “There are no parts of it that I'm unhappy with, same as the last one; I think 'The Weather' was the first album we'd done where even a year or two on, none of it makes us cringe,” he says.
“I like every song [on 'Tasmania'], and for me it's like you lose interest in the song itself once you've finished it; [that's] the reason we put so much effort into little bits of production like little guitar and synth lines or effects is because that's the stuff that still entertains you when you hear it. We're always trying to strike a balance between making it really processed and then also having it sound natural and breathing.”
A densely packed album not just in its themes but also its production and overall musicality, Jay predicts it will take listeners some time to fully digest 'Tasmania'. “There's lots of stuff in there; hopefully it will take people a few listens and each time they listen they notice more and more things,” he says.
“I think the lyrics are the best ones Nick [Allbrook, vocalist] has written; they're probably slightly less bleak from the last one, but I think they're really good. He's always really good with writing words.”
POND will be on tour showcasing the new album just days after its initial release at the beginning of March. At the outset of the release of 'Tasmania', Jay says the most important thing for him about the album is the fact it has a distinctive and recognisable POND sound. “We are comfortable in our own skin these days,” Jay says.
“It took a long time for us to find our own identity and while I still think there are parts of it that are derivative of other music, at this point we don't deliberately reference anything anymore.
“It just kind of sounds like POND. It comes out as ourselves, which took about eight albums to get there,” he laughs, “but it feels really good that we can just make stuff and it works and sounds like us.”
'Tasmania' is available 1 March.
POND Australia Tour 2019
Sun 3 Mar - Astor Theatre (Perth)Tue 5 Mar - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Wed 6 Mar - The Metro Theatre (Sydney)
Thu 7 Mar - The Croxton Bandroom (Melbourne)
