Live: POND/Fascinator

WHITE OAK MUSIC HALL — 5/15/18: The backstage door opened, and a young woman wearing sunglasses peeked out. I thought to myself, “Perhaps the show is about to begin.” She wore a saxophone around her neck and took the stage alongside her bandmates, a blond, shaman-looking figure with a guitar and another mustachioed man on violin.

They began to play a cacophonic introduction. Computerized tracks rumbled underneath as Fascinator made its presence known. After a minute or so of noise, a song based around a computerized bassline starts flowing though the speakers. It was groovy, melodic, and hypnotic. Fans of Kula Shaker and other ’90s Britpop should enjoy Fascinator. The band made great use of a synth guitar; it made me want one! I wished they had a bigger more organic live band, but I tried to be understanding, and resolved to check out their new album.

The sold-out crowd pushed gently toward the front as we waited for the headliner. I remembered back to my introduction to Perth, Australia’s POND. I happened upon them randomly at the “Aussie Barbecue” at SXSW back in 2012. Back then they were playing heavy rock through Orange amps and cabinets and came off as a riff-rockin’, early Zeppelin-esque classic-rock act.

I enjoyed their set, but didn’t give them another thought until I heard the title track off of Man It Feels Like Space Again in 2015. I enjoyed it enough to buy the album on vinyl and play it at home and in the car quite a bit.

This show, though, was my intro to the new material (I just didn’t listen to much new music last year), beginning with their opener, “30,000 Megatons”. Instantly, I could sense the change in the new material. The song seemed like it was part of a lost classic-rock concept album. As singer Nicholas Allbrook pleaded with the audience to “push the button now!”, I realized that this was a much more mature band than the POND I knew. The song ended, and the crowd erupted — even the band themselves seemed a little surprised and overwhelmed by the reception Houston gave them.

Song after song, Allbrook and the band held the audience captive. At times Allbrook reminded me of one of my favorite rock frontmen of the past decade, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, in that he had a very endearing quality to his singing and interaction with the audience, coming out from behind his instruments on occasion and getting close to the fans.

Of course, there were also obvious musical references to Flaming Lips, as well as to POND’s good friends, Tame Impala (their latest albums are both produced by Kevin Parker, and guitarist/synth/bassist Jay Watson plays drums live for Tame Impala), but POND came off as an eccentric cousin.

Highlights of the set included “Holding Out for You”, “Paint Me Silver”, the epic “Edge of the World”, and their finale, “The Weather”. At the end, the crowd shouted in unison, “ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!”, and we got one more, one of my favorites — “Man It Feels Like Space Again”. I’m buying The Weather on vinyl. You should too. END

WATCH SOME STUFF:
POND – “Pond – Full Performance (Live on KEXP)”
POND – “Pond – Live @ NOS Primavera Sound 2017 – Porto, Portugal (Full Show)”

(Photos: Johnny Mackay of Fascinator; Nick Allbrook of POND. All photos by Marshall Forse Walker.)