Pontiak: Comecrudos EP

Pontiak
Comecrudos EP
Thrill Jockey
2011-06-21

While Pontiak hails from Virginia, you’d be forgiven for thinking band members called the deepest depths of space their home. After all, the trio – brothers Van, Jennings and Lain Carney – have been conjuring up massive space/psych rock since 2008’s Sun on Sun, and their recipe is Deep Purple, Black Mountain, Kyuss, and getting really, really baked. For the latest EP, Comecrudos, the Jennings brothers mix it up a little: either they’re going to the deepest reaches of space or the darkest pockets of their minds. The band claims that Comecrudos is a soundtrack for the drive on Route 385 southbound from Marathon, Texas, but travels through outer–and inner–space work just as well. After opening with nearly ten minutes of droning bass and plaintive horn bleats (or maybe someone just left a microphone next to a very loud fridge motor in a lighthouse), Van Carney touches down on Earth (or emerges from his subconscious, or rips down the highway) long enough to lament “those lonely ghosts we used to be”, before blasting off again to an insistent organ and slashes of guitar, the band departing as mysteriously as it arrived. Track titles are merely “Parts I-IV”. If you’re new to Pontiak, this probably isn’t the place to start–to these ears, that’d be 2010’s Living–but it’s great to see a group this committed to going on a (head) trip.

RATING 6 / 10