Album Review: Pond - Hobo Rocket

Five albums later and Pond are finally starting to sound like the band they were supposed to be. It's kind of like Dig!, but with a bit less bullshit and waaay less heroin.

Following from their hit and miss LP, Frond, Hobo Rocket is not only a much better album title but also a much better and more ambitious endeavour that takes all that is good about the heavy psych rock of the '60s, gives it a Meatloaf rock opera makeover and delivers it all without any hint of self-consciousness. Underlying it all is that unmistakeable sound of isolation that is the inspiration for which their other West Australian counterparts are known, including bands like (the obvious) Tama Impala and the lesser known The Silents. Many would have heard the track, Giant Tortoise, on rotation on various radio stations – it's got a super-fuzzed attitude but is soft enough to make The Beatles proud. This track, however, isn't completely indicative of the album as a whole, the band opting for the full experiment with rock in all its forms.

At only seven songs, the album is a bit of a blinking mini-album, but it feels a lot longer than the seven tracks suggests, with the tracks following many a jam outro formula, which mostly doesn't feel overdone. It's true the lads are mindful that their sound has been made before, but the reverence with which it is all delivered this time around makes it for a more enjoyable and thorough listen.