Bardo Pond - Ticket Crystals

  by Andrew Carver

published: 19 / 6 / 2006

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Review

Philadelphia’s Bardo Pond has been turning out ultrafuzzy, slow tempo space rock for more than a decade. On ‘Ticket Crystals’, this five-person group once again takes its cues from trance, space rock, drone, and krautrock to create a psychedelic work that creates a mellow mood from outright dissonance. Even when the distortion reaches a fever pitch, the music has a peaceful, stoned mood. In ‘Destroying Angel’ crushing fuzz jockeys with wah-inflected feedback as Isobel Sollenberger’s plaintive voice trades off with Ed Fansworth’s drum rolls. The restful ‘Isle” features Isobel’s flute and fingerpicked acoustic guitar and is more akin to the work of freak-folk performers like Espers and Nick Castro. A reverberating electric guitar is kept on a tight leash for starters, but gradually builds to a greater but not overwhelming role. Other sounds, like the jangling bells in ‘Lost Word’ provide variety to a soundscape that could have been turned into one long song. ‘FC II’ once again gives a dominant role to Sollenberger, this time on violin, though her droning bow has some competition from Clint Takeda’s dub-style bass lines. The longest song on the album at more than 18 minutes, it too increases the feedback as it progresses and is the clearest example of the band’s krautrock influence on the disc. The band also throws in one wild card - a drugged out interpretation of the Beatles’ ‘Cry Baby Cry’. The cover’s booming acoustic guitar and Sollenberger’s narcotic vocals make for an ominous listening experience, the sole departure from the album’s otherwise placid sound.

Track Listing:-

1 Destroying Angel
2 Isle
3 Lost Word
4 Cry Baby Cry
5 Fcll
6 Moonshine
7 Endurance
8 Montana Scara II

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bardo-P
http://www.threelobed.com/bardo/
http://bardopond.com/
https://twitter.com/lemurhouse