Just a couple of month since the release of their new album INTELLECT, Burlington, Vermont based glam noisy post punk act PONS are back with their new live album & live performance video BIRD AND BOY. The unsettling and hypnotic visuals in the BIRD AND BOY film are the perfect pairing for the overblown, raucous arrangements of songs previously heard on INTELLECT, not to mention the three unreleased songs that make their debut as well. Today, we’re giving you its full stream above, alonf with PONS’ special commentary on 2020 and their list of best records and movies released in the past 12 months! Enjoy!
BIRD AND BOY is a bombastic live follow-up to the head-turning Pons album INTELLECT, which was released in September of this year. The new live album and film see the Burlington, Vermont post-punk trio push their already extremely chaotic sound to the brink of total destruction. Even more noisy and overblown than INTELLECT, BIRD AND BOY captures the sheer danger, intensity, and throttling speed of a Pons live performance. The BIRD AND BOY film features hypnotic dancing from Talia Riccio and a brooding sub-plot filled with vampires, fiends, and other frightening figures. In a far away place at an unknown time, an average working man finds himself glued to the television as Pons’ new live album BIRD AND BOY unleashes his full potential.
“Speaking of 2020 can be pretty tricky given that the hardships we faced weren’t unique to us, nor were they comparable to some of the worst stuff happening to people right now with the eviction crisis and pandemic.” – says the band.
“We’re all just feeling grateful that we were still at least able to record and release a solid amount of music and content this year. This was no problem, as we all live together in the ultra-sanitized Pons Estate. Vermont has also had one of the lowest infection rates in the United States throughout the pandemic, so we’re super appreciative for all the people here who took the pandemic seriously. Also, the rise in general political consciousness and involvement this year has been an up-side to all the awful things that have been happening, because in the end, that’s a really solid way to work towards stopping the ignorance that’s consuming America.”
PONS admit that they have always worked by their own clock, so they hope to simply keep carrying out their master plan in 2021. “It would be awesome if we could tour again at some point next year, but it’s still a little too early to tell if that’s even going to be possible… Also, with so many independent venues closing, it’s going to be weird to see what DIY touring even looks like in the future. Our top priority is still just to bring Pons to the ears, and there should be many pons in many ears in 2021.”
The Pons 2020 Gold Standard Album List:
The Garden – Kiss My Superbowl Ring
The lads are back with a big one. Music for jesters. 10 Pons out of 10.
Moor Jewelry – True Opera
Sounds lobotomized. 10 Pons out of 10.
Wasted Shirt – Fungus II
The musical equivalent to a concussion. 10 Pons out of 10.
Crack Cloud – Pain Olympics
Exactly what the title suggests. 10 Pons out of 10.
Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight to Eternity
If you want to cry. 10 Pons out of 10.
Godcaster – Long Haired Locusts
Cool DIY. Infinite groove. 10 Pons out of 10.
Venus Twins – Eat Your Dogs
Cool DIY. Will destroy your brain. 10 Pons out of 10.
The Pons 2020 Gold Standard Movie List:
Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg)
The Devil All the Time (Antonio Campos)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell)
The Sound of Metal (Darius Marder)
Pons was formed in the summer of 2018 in North Carolina by longtime friends and collaborators Sam Cameron and Jack Parker. The first Pons EP, They Look Like People, was an experimental and psychedelic combination of manic punk music and lush, synth-driven soundscapes. Pons quickly followed their debut EP with 2019’s Being The Prey and Dread, two EPs that saw the band moving in a more angular, dancy, and post-punk direction while maintaining the freewheeling, experimental sound upon which the band was founded. After a successful US tour supporting Dread and relocating to Burlington, Vermont in 2019, Pons added rhythm extraordinaire Sebastien Carnot to the lineup and further pushed the band down the angular path on which they were already traveling. Pons spent 2019 and the beginning of 2020 relentlessly touring throughout the northeast United States and Canada and made a name for themselves with their unhinged, often dangerous performances and involvement in radical politics.
At one of these highly theatrical shows, one could expect to see Pons clad in extremely formal, business-like attire, athletic equipment, animal masks, or all of the above. And, if you didn’t see a member of Pons getting violently tossed through the crowd at some point during the show, you probably weren’t paying attention. The debut Pons album INTELLECT was released on September 17th, 2020 to acclaim from fans and underground press alike. Pons continue their increasingly prolific career with BIRD AND BOY, a live album and film set to be released on December 31st, 2020.
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