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Band Name: Pontiak
Album Name: The White Buffalo EP
Best Element: Unique rootsy mood.
Genre: Melancholy Indie-rock
Website: http://www.organgrinderrecords.com/bands.cfm/bandID/3/band/Pontiak
Label Name: Organ Grinder Records (www.organgrinderrecords.com)
Band E-mail: jennings.carney@gmail.com
Hand-numbered releases reveal a lot about a band’s character. If
a band is daring enough to release one, it’s proof that they believe
in the desirability of their band’s product. If the number is small,
you can assume the band has got a bit of an ego going on (humble bands won’t
ever number their releases- they don’t want people to know how good
or bad it’s going). If the number is in the hundreds (as in Pontiak’s
The White Buffalo EP), the band has some serious dedication to its
sound.
I hold in my hand the two-hundred and eighty-fourth copy of Pontiak’s
EP. It has a total run of 300, as noted by the 284/300 lovingly written
on both the CD front and the inset art. That’s an accomplishment in
itself.
But you’re here to see how Pontiak sounds, so I will stop my admiration
of their work ethic and start the critiquing of music. Their sound is a
very low-slung, rootsy sound, drawing on low vocals, slow tempos, and unique
aesthetics. I hesitate to say mellow, because even though Pontiak is not
the loudest band around, they aren’t trying to put you to sleep (except
on the lullaby-esque “It Takes One”). Their intensity just takes
on different forms. The creepy, mournful call of “Strings Dancing”
feels like a misplaced spiritual, until the band kicks in and turns it into
a bluesy rocker of sorts. Nothing Pontiak does is especially categorizable
into a specific genre, so when I say ‘of sorts’, I mean it bears
resemblance.
The non-tempo-based intensity continues on “Night’s Daughter”,
which is bass-heavy with some graveling vocals, and with “Doors to
Haiti”, a neo-jazzy piece in the vein of Nick Cave and co. Closer
“Ophelia” is the real treat here, as a punchy bass line and
cymbal-dependent drum lines create a hectic atmosphere for the guitars and
vocals to play around in. The low-key post-punk that is inadvertently created
is simply astounding, and the replay value on “Ophelia” is through
the roof.
The nods to folk and indie-pop are evident here, and the subtle hints of
rock are visible, but for the most part, this EP is the genre of melancholia.
Pontiak feels like a dark, lonely night in a cabin or a graveyard somewhere,
and sometimes that’s the place you want to be.
-Stephen Carradini
Independentclauses@hotmail.com