Volume 9
of East Coast psychedelic collective
Bardo Pond
's ongoing archival series is drawn from sessions recorded in 2005 and 2006 when brothers
John
and
Michael Gibbons
, along with viola and flute player
Isobel Sollenberger
, were jamming with guest drummer
Michael Zanghi
. The group's longstanding heaviness is present even in
Vol. 9
's most subdued moments, with "Conjunctio" combining thoughtful acoustic guitar, meandering, distant flute, and softly tapped hand percussion with waves of thick, overpowering fuzz guitar. This
Popol Vuh
-meets-
Hawkwind
style continues on the amorphous, free-of-form "The Nine Doubts," with spirals of feedback and tambourine rattles bumping into each other gleefully without finding any discernible patterns. The slow-rolling, two-part "War Is Over" introduces more traditional groove, with a gelatinous and repetitive rhythm serving as a backdrop for droning synths and comforting guitar lines. The drone all but swallows the rest of the song on the second part of the piece, which stretches out to over 20 minutes. It's a musical idea that feels troubled and reassuring at the same time, consisting of a dreamy groove akin to the misty space rock of
Kranky Records
' early-'90s catalog, and violent dissonance on par with the first
Velvet Underground
album or
Meddle
-era
Pink Floyd
. The energy just ramps up and up and up, with
Zanghi
's playing becoming more insistent and wah-wah guitars and viola scratches taking the sound from
Jessamine
-esque mumbling to
Fun House
-styled explosibility. Even with this slowly rising tide of aggression,
show restraint and mastery of their psychedelic fury in this incarnation, just as they do in most of their other configurations.
's presence on
gives the album a distinctive feel, and it stands as one of the most exciting entries in a series that rarely disappoints. ~ Fred Thomas