First a very quick lesson in neuroanatomy. The pons is a very important part of the brain. It regulates and controls a number of vital functions essentially acting as a control center. Interestingly enough it is implicated in sleep paralysis, and may also play a role in generating dreams. It is located in an area through which all information that travels throughout the nervous system passes at some point. This all fits well with ‘INTELLECT‘ the debut album from Burlington, Vermont’s PONS.
The 45 minutes you’ll spend with the band is like a fever dream, one where you’ll ebb and flow with their strange and delirious dance-punk. The 14 tracks on ‘INTELLECT‘ offer a strange disjointed listening experience, something like being inside a pinball machine. The music stops and starts, swirls and shifts, driven by primal drums, chaotic guitar, and a tripped-out choir of voices. Take the glam psych of The Moonlandingz, throw in some Snapped Ankles weirdness, add a little of deranged Beach Boys and you’re close. This is music to wake your nervous system.
PONS has previously released three EPs: ‘They Look Like People’, ‘Being The Prey’, and ‘Dread’.
We caught up with Jack Parker for a thematic track by track.
Bird and Boy: A bird? A boy? Reality hath slipped down the drain…
NO SQUID: Bid now our father the Sea King, for the ocean taketh and the ocean giveth away. The faint whispers of the sirens echo in the sailor’s mind, “go back to the sea.”
Primal Urge: To partake in the great taboo… The uncontrollable desire, the ultimate release. Temptation knows all.
Buzzed: Scorched throat to get a rush… and for what?! Sensation?! Or is it control?!!
Jimmy Two-Time: A scandal! A scam! Hubris has taken hold of the unsuspecting Jimmy. We watch in horror as he attempts to fly into the sun.
Dick Dastardly: The Villain has finally snapped. There is no man left in that hollow shell. Only animal.
Polly’s Hotel: Legend has it, the hotel only exists in one’s imagination… Sanctuary for the most absent of minds. It’s the talk of the town. It’s Polly’s dirty little secret.
Fabrication: Lies on top of lies. How many lies before one is dug too deep?
Subliminal Messages: Product is God. Consumption is key. Stay with the trend. Live for pleasure.
Golden Handshake: The maddened king is enamored with drink… will the prince follow suit?
LADDER: Alien walks among man, cold flesh that you would think is warm. No one knows a thing.
I See My Name in the Lights: So you want to be a millionaire? Fame. Fortune. Play your cards right and you might just come out on top…
W.A.S.P.: The evil has taken over. The time is now. This is the program.
The Hypnotist: I find the bugman for poison, rinse and repeat. Hypnosis is inevitable, integration is necessary.
