Pond frontman Nicholas Allbrook has announced he’ll release a new solo album titled ‘Manganese’ in June, sharing its lead single ‘Jackie’ to coincide.
“This song is about my friend (whose name isn’t Jackie) who died in 2021. She was fantastic and the news left me with familiar feelings of guilt and regret and ‘why didn’t I do more or know better,'” Allbrook said of the new song, a glimmering synth-pop ballad that arrives alongside a video directed by Alex Haygarth.
“I don’t usually get hit with creative bolts while running, but by the canal once in London I was struck with the hopeful image of her rowing away from the earth that had been so hurtful and hard, on a black lake surrounded by stars, finally finding peace and silence. It felt nice to think about death like that, bathed in pale silver light rather than just cold.
“I got lots of instrumental help from Nathaniel Hoho, who bizarrely and brilliantly put in the nature documentary voice about the giant panda which should never work but somehow does.”
‘Manganese’ – out June 9 via Spinning Top Records – will mark Allbrook’s fourth solo album, following 2014’s ‘Ganough, Wallis and Fatuna’, 2016’s ‘Pure Gardiya’ and 2019’s ‘Wabi Sabi Bruto Bruta’.
The new album was produced by Allbrook and Nathaniel Hoho (aka HOKO) and mixed by Allbrook’s Pond bandmate Jay Watson (aka GUM). Pre-orders are available here.
Pond’s last album, ‘9’, arrived back in 2021. In a four-star review, NME praised the band’s leap into more experimental sonic territory. “Having perhaps taken their psych-pop to the edges of what’s possible, Pond deserve this moment. Hopefully, it proves a gateway to a new era for the band that keeps on giving.”