9 (Pond album)

9 is the ninth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band Pond. It was released on 1 October 2021 by Spinning Top Records.[7] The album was produced by the band themselves, the first since 2012's Beard, Wives, Denim to not be co-produced by former member Kevin Parker, with bandmates Jay Watson and James Ireland on mixing duties.[4]

9
Studio album by
Pond
Released1 October 2021 (2021-10-01)
Genre
Length39:09
LabelSpinning Top
ProducerPond
Pond chronology
Tasmania
(2019)		 9
(2021)
Singles from 9
  1. "Pink Lunettes"
    Released: 31 March 2021[1]
  2. "America's Cup"
    Released: 20 May 2021[2]
  3. "Toast"
    Released: 1 July 2021[3]
  4. "Human Touch"
    Released: 3 September 2021[4]
Singles from 9 (Deluxe)
  1. "Lights of Leeming"
    Released: 4 March 2022[5][6]

9 became the band's first ARIA top ten album, debuting at number 6 on the chart.[8]

A deluxe version of the album was released on 20 May 2022.[6]

Background

The album was announced on 20 May 2021, alongside second single "America's Cup".[2] Upon announcement, Nick Allbrook said "We'd settled into a pretty tight routine with the last few albums and wanted to shake a boat with this so we started off with filling a few tape reels with some absolutely heinous improvised sonic babble which, after much sifting, became the first few songs of the album. We also wanted to up the tempo. The last few albums have a neat little mantra or repetitive theme. If I was forced to find something like that in 9, I guess it would be 'biography' or 'observation' - a lot of the lyrics seem to focus on single people's lives, or the lives of small moments or small things when you zoom real close up and they reveal something deeper."[9][10]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
NME[12]
Rolling Stone Australia[13]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, 9 received an average score of 72 based on six reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Rhys Buchanan from NME said "The band that keeps on giving, having pushed their self-proclaimed "polished psych-pop" to its outer reaches, reinvent themselves yet again."[12] James Di Fabrizio from Rolling Stone Australia said "At 9's best, it's an exhilarating ride through multiple ideas all being born at once. While it will never be Pond's most focused record, it's arguably more interesting to hear the band push forward into new territory than rehash well-trodden ideas."[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nicholas Allbrook, Jay Watson, Joseph Ryan, James Ireland, and Jamie Terry

No.TitleLength
1."Song for Agnes"4:14
2."Human Touch"3:20
3."America's Cup"3:50
4."Take Me Avalon I'm Young"3:30
5."Pink Lunettes"5:46
6."Czech Locomotive"4:50
7."Rambo"5:03
8."Gold Cup / Plastic Sole"4:26
9."Toast"4:10
Total length:39:09
2022 DLX Edition
No.TitleLength
10."Lights of Leeming"3:14
11."My Funny Serpentine"3:34
12."The TAB Took My Baby Away"3:03
13."Hang a Cross On Me (ft. Cowboy John)"4:45
Total length:53:05

Personnel

Pond

Additional personnel

  • David Ives – mastering
  • Maud Nadal – additional vocals on "Song for Agnes"
  • Jesse Kotansky – strings on "Song for Agnes", "Take Me Avalon I'm Young", "Gold Cup / Plastic Soul" and "Toast"
  • Christian Ruggiero – saxophone on "Song for Agnes" and "Human Touch"
  • Amaya Courtis – additional vocals on "Take Me Avalon I'm Young" and "Rambo"
  • Laurel – additional vocals on "Czech Locomotive"
  • Evelyn Ida Morris – piano on "Gold Cup / Plastic Soul"
  • Brod Madden-Scott – live instrumental engineering on "America's Cup", "Czech Locomotive" and "Toast"
  • Cowboy John – vocals on "Hang a Cross On Me"
  • Braulio Amado – artwork and layout

Charts
Chart performance for 9
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] 6
Scottish Albums (OCC)[15] 93
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[16] 18

Release history
Release history and details for 9
Region Date Format Edition Label Catalogue Ref.
Various 1 October 2021
Standard Spinning Top STR025CD
Australia 20 May 2022 Deluxe STR025DLXLP [6]

References
  1. "Pink Lunettes - single". Apple Music. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  2. Newstead, Al (20 May 2021). "POND announce new album with anti-gentrification boogie "America's Cup"". ABC. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  3. Medcalf, Caitlyn (1 July 2021). "Pond Share Sunny New Single "Toast"". MusicFeeds. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. Gallagher, Alex (3 September 2021). "Listen to Pond's thrashing new single "Human Touch"". MusicFeeds. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  5. "NEW AUS MUSIC PLAYLIST: Our Favourite Tunes Of The Week". Music Feeds. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  6. "Pond share new song, announce '9' deluxe edition". NME Australia. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  7. "POND 9 (CD)". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  8. "Drake returns to ARIA Albums Chart #1 with Certified Lover Boy". ARIA Charts. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  9. Murray, Robin (20 May 2021). "Pond Announce New Album '9'". www.clashmusic.com. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  10. Brewster, Will (20 May 2021). "Pond announce new album 9, detail national tour dates". mixdownmag.com.au. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  11. "9 by Pond". Metacritic. 1 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  12. Buchanan, Rhys (30 September 2021). "Pond 9 review: Perth psych gang make their biggest leap into the unknown". NME Australia. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  13. Di Fabrizio, James (1 October 2021). "Pond Take an Exhilarating Step Into Experimentation and Destruction with 9". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  14. "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  15. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  16. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
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