NEW CT ROCK: Pond View’s Mouthbreather
Pond View describes themselves as a “CT rock band that’s gonna blade all over this sorry town,” and it feels like a fair statement. The Connecticut music landscape is diverse, but for all the pop-punk, emo, and other indie acts the state offers, I haven’t come across many pure rock bands. I’m not sure if I would call Pond View a pure rock band, but they could definitely play one on TV.
If you isolated the sounds of The Black Keys, Dr. Dog, and Cage the Elephant, then triangulated the musical coordinates, you’d end up on Pond View’s doorstep. They’re going to have fun running amok playing excellent music. Mouthbreather, their new EP, was released on Friday and it is definitely worth listening to.
Things kick-off with “Two Headed Boy,” a strong rock-n-roll play that marches along without regard for anything in its path. Camden Masscaro makes the drums feel like a dinosaur stomping along the Earth. Josh Sansone plays a fat bass. Singer and guitarist Luke Kraszewski’s passionately wails the chorus “I should’ve known/Baby open up my heart ‘cause I don’t need it.” At the end of the track, someone says “That banged.” It does.
One of the things you start to feel as you listen to more and more of the album is that Pond View is great together as a band. They fit well together, it seems like they enjoy playing together, and it appears to come easily. “One and Only” slows down the pace. It’s a song about chasing new love, with an innocence belied by the children’s xylophone that is featured on the bridge.
“Goodnight” has that star-crossed, not-giving-up-on-the-ill-fated flavor that I think of as being uniquely Cage the Elephant. Pond View hits this half-melencholy/half-hopeful mood of unfulfilled promise and potential perfectly. This is followed by the fuzzy, lo-fi “Fool” that rumbles along with a drunken swagger. The two work in tandem: your night doesn’t end the way you had hoped, and you go home and let yourself to become a mess. “Fool” centers on the excesses of a drunk night without regard for anything, too much noise, too much drink, too much self-destruction. “Let’s get dark and set them loose/Let’s leave town with all their booze;” the words dribble lazily from Kraszewski’s mouth.
“4 U” wakes us up from the haze and the stupor, serving as the fresh air that will move along the stale air from the beer-soaked “Fool.” A light little strum of the guitar, some light bass, and some easy drumming, get us along here. The chorus brings a little more vigor with the boys playing a little harder while Sansone and Masscaro join-in for the chorus. On “4 U,” we’re drunk on love, and we’re happy about it. It captures that feeling of having freshly fallen in love, and you just don’t care about anything because you’re too happy to care about anything. They also do a little call and response, another thing I’m a sucker for. There’s a groovy bridge that encapsulates the whole thing and really brings the song home. These guys would be fun to see live.
“What Can I Say” rounds Mouthbreather out, bringing things to a gentle close. We’ve been so far on our journey with Pond View at this point, it’s appropriate. We helped burn down the town on “Fool,” we’ve fallen in love a couple times, “Two Headed Boy” had us passionately running along with dinosaurs (I took some liberty there). “What Can I Say,” is a tender and heartfelt confession of love, a big “I love you” without actually saying the words.
Mouthbreather is a great ride, and Pond View shows off their serious talent giving fans a little bit of everything. These gentlemen should be high on your list of local bands to see whenever we can see live music again, because I have a hunch crowds will love these guys. Check them out on your preferred streaming service.
Michael Stroneski, editor at mvsicthovght, has started several blogs and multi-media projects you’ve never seen. He is a life-long cheerleader for Connecticut and underground music. You can reach him at contact@mvsicthovght.com