Man It Feels Like Space Again

On their sixth record in seven years, Pond takes on pop. Five-minute opener ‘Waiting Around For Grace’ sets high-pitched vocals about being “tired of being tired” to fiery synths, and the jittery groove of ‘Elvis’ Flaming Star’ owes as much to Michael Jackson and Prince as it does Bowie. The tracks are as out-there as the title (cooked up by Ryan while he was “high on some consumables”), and highlight the new ingredients Pond are working with for ‘Man It Feels Like Space Again’. There are significantly fewer vocal freakouts from Allbrook, more synths, and various examples of combining programmed and acoustic drum sounds. They sound cleaner than ever, even when they slow things down. Like Procol Harum’s chart-topping 1967 single ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, ‘Holding Out For You’ makes prog accessible, burying sombre vocals under the keyboards before a breakdown that screeches like nails on a blackboard. ‘Sitting Up On Our Crane’ is lullaby-slow, underpinned by gentle guitar that flutters beneath Allbrook’s lyrics which, when intelligible, are downcast: “It always feels the same when we’re up high/’Cos I feel like I fall and die”.