Pond have released their new album ‘Stung!’, featuring new track ‘Constant Picnic’

Pond have released their tenth studio album ‘Stung!’ through Spinning Top Records.

The album opens with ‘Constant Picnic’, a track that originated from a demo by band member James Ireland, which spurred vocalist Nick Allbrook to craft the chorus lyrics. Allbrook describes the creative process and thematic depth of the song, stating: “Gum built it up with some new beautiful chords in the verse and it sort of grew as things do.” explains Allbrook. “This song is about all the ways we deceive ourselves. In love, climate, history, we find it hard to face up to the truth and suffer terribly for it. The title is from the Australian gastronomic classic One Continuous Picnic by Michael Symons. It outlines how Australia as a nation never had a peasant class and so never developed a national cuisine through engagement with the land and soils. We are tethered to the Union Jack and carry around our rations (sugar tea mutton flour – also a line in “Black Lung”) despite its incompatibility with, and destructive influence on the environment. The phrase ‘Constant picnic’ echoed others like, “the lucky country” and “endless summer” that are all part of the myths we tell ourselves to feel better. “The curtains falling but at least I’m dumber” – even at the final act we prefer to just self-medicate or lie. It’s a bit complicated because we do just want to be happy.”

Pond are currently on an Australian tour, before moving to the UK, Europe, and North America later this year.

The dates in full read:

SEPTEMBER
24 Papillon, Southampton, UK
24 Heartbreakers, Southampton, UK (late show)
26 Gorilla, Manchester, UK
27 The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK
28 The Grove, Newcastle, UK
29 King Tut’s Wah Wah, Glasgow, UK

OCTOBER
1 XOYO Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
2 Thekla, Bristol, UK
3 Electric Ballroom, London, UK
5 La Trabendo, Paris, FR
6 La Grand Salon, Botanique, Brussels, BE
7 Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
8 Bürgerhaus Stollwerck, Cologne, DE
10 Hole44, Berlin, DE
11 Fabrik, Hamburg, DE
13 Vega, Copenhagen, DK

NOVEMBER
12 Royale, Boston, MA
13 Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY
14 Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA
16 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
17 Mr. Smalls Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
19 Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ON
20 St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
22 Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
23 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
28 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
29 Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
30 Revolution Hall, Portland, OR

DECEMBER
3 The Warfield, San Francisco, CA
5 The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA