9 is an album by Australian psychedelic band Pond, eponymously named as the band’s 9th project as well as its 9 tracks on the album. It was released October 1st 2021, two years after the band’s last album, Tasmania, which was released in March of 2019 to generally positive reviews. The album is composed of different sounds that blend together in its own genre, from futuristic to 70s disco.
The album opens up with its first track, “A Song for Agnes” which serves as an explosive and fun introduction for what the listener is in store for. What I love about this song is how much it embodies its own spirit and wears it proudly like a badge of honor. The song comes in at you and says, “Hey! I’m here and I’m ready to rock your little world!” It seems that the band wanted to use this chance to push their creative limits and see what they could pile together and come up with. The result is a fun and fantastical venture into the band’s creative process. The genre is still consistent, but we see different styles of music go into the album, from futuristic, to garage rock, and even 70s disco.
Besides Agnes, two other songs I would like to note are “Take Me Avalon I’m Young” and “Gold Cup/Plastic Sole”. Take Me Avalon has a fun and infectious beat, with an almost epic sense of spirit to it that feels as if it was recorded high on a mountaintop during a festival. Gold Cup/Plastic Sole has its own sound heavy on more garage rock overtones, which still makes for an engaging listen.
Overall, the album, while not groundbreaking, is still a fun and enjoyable mixture of bedroom pop, experimental, and psychedelia. It’s clear here that the band wanted to experiment with different sounds and see what they get, and what they got is a pleasant, albeit unambitious, new album. Anyone who stumbles upon this album will find themselves at the perfect gateway into psychedelic rock.
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