Rating: NNN
Pond shares three-fifths of its membership with Perth, Australia’s Tame Impala and plays a similar breed of psych rock, so if you were swept up in the hype of TI’s last album, Lonerism, you’ve already got an entry point into Hobo Rocket. But it’s hardly a clone of its breakout brother. Sure, Pond have a similar interest in the classic period where blues, folk and pop artists started experimenting with acid, but they’re much more Zeppelin II than Sgt. Pepper.
Where Lonerism was content to reproduce the dizzying experience of being trapped within your own head, Hobo Rocket is more about the highest highs of nailing the perfect fuzz riff or exquisitely timed drum fill in front of a festival full of people. Pond still appreciate the glue of a hummable pop hook and the intoxicating pyschedelia of headphone tricks, but the most satisfying way to hear Hobo Rocket is turning it up as loud as it’ll go.
Top track: Xanman
