Album Review

I’ve never heard Pontiak before hearing Sun on Sun for the first time. And frankly how would I? Apparently I don’t frequent rural farmhouses enough to have known that those farmhouses are where the coolest stuff is being recorded. Yes, I said rural farmhouse. That’s only one of the aspects of Sun on Sun that helps to set the unique tone of the album.

Recorded in a farmhouse in rural Virginia, the Carney Brothers (who make up Pontiak) had wanted the album to have a live feel to it, so they recorded the whole thing without overdubs, except for some vocals. This gives the 7-song album a gritty feel sound. But don’t be fooled by it being only 7 songs. Some of those tunes clock in at around 9 minutes, making the entire record a sweet 36 minutes.

“Shell Skull,” the opening track, gets the ball rolling with that aforementioned gritty sound and some sick bass lines (something lacking in a lot of bands today). The album keeps rocking from there.

It’s hard to really classify Pontiak. On simple terms, it sounds kind of like classic southern rock mixed with grungy psychedelic.

Tunes like “White Mice” capture vintage live Allman Brothers, but only during the first three minutes. After that the vocals kick in and the song takes on a whole different sound. “Tell Me About” gives you a slight taste of a parallel universe where Jim Morrison and the Doors were alive and starting out in 2008 instead of 1968.

With it’s rich grooves, the Neil Young-esque, “The Brush Burned Fast” made me forget about the fact I was reviewing this album at all. In fact, it made me slowly sip my coffee and stare out at the autumn sky. And when a song creates a moment like that, you know you have truly found something cool.

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