In a year where there was barely no live music to be found, Vermont based Post-Punk band Pons wanted to give their fans a little taste of what they are missing on their live album, Bird and Boy. The album, and film the band released alongside it, make it their mission to come as close as they can to transporting the listener to a live Pons gig, minus the sweaty venues, crowd antics, and Pons’ insane crowd interactions. The live followup to their September 2020 full length album, Intellect, mostly features tracks that can be found on the mentioned record, but contains three previously unrecorded tracks, Exhibition I, II, and III, respectively. The live album features Pons disorderly and chaotic sound that they gifted us on Intellect, but crank it up to 11 as their raw sound carries the listener through an experience that will make them long for the next time they can see Pons live and in the flesh. If you miss live music in a time where there is none to be found, this is sure to fill a void in your heart.
If you are someone who has listened to Intellect and are wondering how Pons manage to create a live record that sounds like a new experience than the one given to us on Intellect, just know that the band succeeds. Their disjointed and noisy recording intentionally found on Intellect translates so well to a live album setting. Unlike most live records, we obviously don’t hear any crowd noise or much by way of band interaction or chit chat, but we do hear three musicians who you can tell miss being on the road, and they give their all to make the audience feel as if they are there with them. If anything, this is almost Pons’ pitch to get you to show up to their next show, whenever it will be, and they will successfully convince you if they hadn’t done so already. The recordings of the tracks featured on Intellect don’t differ too heavily from what you hear on their debut record, so you won’t hear any crazy drum solos or three minute long guitar solos, but you can tell that Pons are fantastic showmen throughout this live album. The three tracks that were not heard on Intellect, Exhibition I, II, and III are spread out throughout the album and are an exciting series of songs that I am sure the band will capitalize and use on either an EP or an LP in the future.
The film released alongside the album could have just been the band playing their songs, but it’s so much more than that. The film features a story about an ordinary everyday man who comes home after his traditional mundane 9 to 5 job. The man sits down and expects to watch something mundane, but instead gets sucked into his T.V. and experiences a live Pons performance, featuring the band consisting of Sam Cameron, Jack Parker, and Sebastien Carnot. As the band performs we watch the band, but also the transformative dancing of Talia Riccio, who adds an extra layer of meaning to the film. In between tracks, we get cutscenes that feature this ordinary man interacting with various characters throughout. These cutscenes are very smartly done, and I can tell that not only do Pons know music, but they also know experimental film and storytelling as well.
Pons continue their stroke of genius by releasing this live album out to the world in a time where people need a little bit of normalcy back into their lives. As far as live albums go, it is a little bit of an outlier, as most people would probably say that this is not a traditional live album, but Pons are not a traditional band, either. Pons deliver throughout Bird and Boy as they layer their exciting punk energy alongside an appropriate film that only the minds associated with Pons could come up with.
Watch Pons' film, Bird and Boy, below:
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