Bardo Pond
Under the Pines
Release Date: Mar 24, 2017
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Space Rock
Record label: Fire Records
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Album Review: Under the Pines by Bardo Pond
Great, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Sometimes, beauty hides in the most unexpected places. Bardo Pond's new album - the 11th album of the Philadelphia band's 26-year career - is one of them. Because beneath the noisy sludge and distorted mire of these six tracks there lives a gorgeous, golden majesty. Make no mistake, these aren't ballads.
Based on rating 7/10
Under the Pines (2017) is the first proper full-length from Philadelphia space rock veterans Bardo Pond since 2013's Peace on Venus, although they've released a sizeable stack of vinyl during the four years in between, including a double-LP of early recordings, several Record Store Days EPs consisting of covers, a split with Yo La Tengo, and a collaboration with Acid Mothers Temple and Guru Guru. The album is a sprawling mix of bliss and sadness through sun-baked acid psych jams. Isobel Sollenberger's softly aching vocals call out clearly, seeking truth and light, over the loose but heavy rhythms.
Opinion: Excellent
Some bands might observe their 25th anniversary with a new album, or a reissue campaign or a least a flurry of press releases, but not Bardo Pond. 2016 was a pretty quiet year, their silence broken by just the occasional gig and the by-now-obligatory Record Store Day release, a collaborative jam with fellow space-rockers from Acid Mothers Temple and Guru Guru. But that doesn't mean that all was quiet.
'Under the Pines'
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