at a glance...

Hometown: Phila., PA
Year Formed: 1994

Members:
Joe Culver -drums
John Gibbons -guitar
Michael Gibbons -guitar
Isobel Sollenberger -voice and flute
Clint Takeda -bass

Bands In The Family:
Hash Jar Tempo

Notes:
Bardo Pond grew from the punk rock impulse to pick up some instruments and play, competence be damned. But they didn't stay there; the band has developed into the America's premier purveyors of mind-altered, consciousness-altering rock and roll. They've also gone International by forming the orbitally oriented collective Hash Jar Tempo with New Zealander Roy Montgomery. Set And Setting is Bardo Pond's fifth album.

Links:
Hummingbird Mountain
The Unofficial Band Homepage.

The album has the expansive, unhurried feel of their 1996 release Amanita and the ultra-heavy impact of 1997's Lapsed, but the aptly named Set And Setting (how many indie rock bands can you name that have been covered by High Times Magazine?) duplicates neither disc. It feels spontaneous -- brief pieces like the slide guitar-dominated instrumental "Lull" and album closer "#3" sound like they were snipped at random from band rehearsals. Yet it's probably the quintet's most worked-over record to date. "Datura" opens with a fade that implies that they might have been playing it for quite some time already, but despite its live feel the mix is layered with organ and violin drones and guitar loops.

Anyone who has ever experienced Bardo Pond in concert already knows that they're capable of generating an almost suffocating density, but on "Again" they wed that power to unprecedented velocity. Even "Cross Current," which is basically a throbbing jam illuminated by anguished guitar squeals, steps into unknown territory by opening and closing with several minutes of mournful, detuned fiddles.