REVIEWED: Bardo Pond by Bardo Pond
If there ever is a reward for the virtue of patience in being a constant state of timelessness, for a (quite) brief moment, then one will probably find it in abundance in this Philadelphia's long-staying mainstay new self-titled long player. We'll just go straight to the point with this one since this album turns out to be quite a stretch before I could properly jumble up a few coherent thoughts to come up with this review; and the key word here is that patience can sometimes be rewarding, though it may disappoint you at first.
In essence, this album is pretty much just like about every other Bardo Pond's previous releases produced throughout their entire career in that it swirls sometimes violently, sometimes deliriously, over a long period before it all comes crashing down into a wall of noise, peppered here and there by an accurate taste of folk to create that brief moment of serene calm and clearheadedness, but the whole logic is always left somewhere in the middle, waiting for the listener to diligently pick it up themselves.
I have to admit that when it comes to BP, I am a pretty new pair of ears to their output, so I am quite tempted to pigeonhole them with Sonic Youth - where timelessness is their calling card and have ever since tirelessly slugging it out, producing materials that are neither here nor there. Most of the time they just remain perfectly stationary, neither moving forward nor backward, and that listeners would just occasionally visit them in their mold and leave whenever they are happy with it or feeling satisfied.
It's not really a complaint but when you get to "Undone", clocking in at a very comfortable cruise of 21 minutes in what is basically a repetition of listless nothingness, and followed by "Cracker Wrist" which, though is only for 9 minutes and with quite a surprising introduction, grinds out just as painfully slow, suddenly the reward in sitting down patiently and listening to it just kind of... cancels itself out.
The leading single "Don't Know About You" though is a nice addition to the album, not just for its' very brief playing time of 4 minutes and a bit, but because it briefly escapes the tedium repetition of sludge-whimsy sigh-sludge and its unforgiving trudging pace by replacing them with something that is a bit more urgent and uh, bone-crushingly awesome.
Otherwise, if you're looking for a more wholesome and rewarding record, this we afraid, is not it. It will appreciate, make no mistake, but over a long period of time because that is the true quality of BP - it's a grower, but one that grows very late and very slowly. But sometimes even patience can wear thin and when that moment does come, you will find this album absolutely rubbish. Wait for that rare moment when you have all the time in the world on your hand and you will learn to appreciate the disparaging quality of this album.
If there ever is a reward for the virtue of patience in being a constant state of timelessness, for a (quite) brief moment, then one will probably find it in abundance in this Philadelphia's long-staying mainstay new self-titled long player. We'll just go straight to the point with this one since this album turns out to be quite a stretch before I could properly jumble up a few coherent thoughts to come up with this review; and the key word here is that patience can sometimes be rewarding, though it may disappoint you at first.
In essence, this album is pretty much just like about every other Bardo Pond's previous releases produced throughout their entire career in that it swirls sometimes violently, sometimes deliriously, over a long period before it all comes crashing down into a wall of noise, peppered here and there by an accurate taste of folk to create that brief moment of serene calm and clearheadedness, but the whole logic is always left somewhere in the middle, waiting for the listener to diligently pick it up themselves.
I have to admit that when it comes to BP, I am a pretty new pair of ears to their output, so I am quite tempted to pigeonhole them with Sonic Youth - where timelessness is their calling card and have ever since tirelessly slugging it out, producing materials that are neither here nor there. Most of the time they just remain perfectly stationary, neither moving forward nor backward, and that listeners would just occasionally visit them in their mold and leave whenever they are happy with it or feeling satisfied.
It's not really a complaint but when you get to "Undone", clocking in at a very comfortable cruise of 21 minutes in what is basically a repetition of listless nothingness, and followed by "Cracker Wrist" which, though is only for 9 minutes and with quite a surprising introduction, grinds out just as painfully slow, suddenly the reward in sitting down patiently and listening to it just kind of... cancels itself out.
The leading single "Don't Know About You" though is a nice addition to the album, not just for its' very brief playing time of 4 minutes and a bit, but because it briefly escapes the tedium repetition of sludge-whimsy sigh-sludge and its unforgiving trudging pace by replacing them with something that is a bit more urgent and uh, bone-crushingly awesome.
Otherwise, if you're looking for a more wholesome and rewarding record, this we afraid, is not it. It will appreciate, make no mistake, but over a long period of time because that is the true quality of BP - it's a grower, but one that grows very late and very slowly. But sometimes even patience can wear thin and when that moment does come, you will find this album absolutely rubbish. Wait for that rare moment when you have all the time in the world on your hand and you will learn to appreciate the disparaging quality of this album.
Labels: bardo pond
posted by Hafeez at 7:30 AM
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