NASHVILLE |DT: AUGUST 30, 2012
FR: LIBBY COFFEY/MITCH SCHNEIDER–MSO
PONDEROSA
READY A FALL U.S. TREK
SET TO LAUNCH ON SEPTEMBER 1 IN SAVANNAH, GA
NEW ALBUM
‘POOL PARTY’
CONTINUES TO GARNER WIDESPREAD CRITICAL ACCLAIM
After wrapping a nationwide trek of in-store performances at boutique record shops, Atlanta indie rock group PONDEROSA will kick-off a fall tour on September 1 in Savannah, GA at the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Fest (see dates and venues below).
POOL PARTY, the quintet’s sophomore release out on New West Records, continues to garner widespread critical praise for its fusion of surf-dream-pop and a dark, Southern sound. The group teamed with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, MGMT) and as a result POOL PARTY’s 10 tracks burst with neo-psychedelic sounds, amorphous guitars and earthen harmonies. “Black Hill Smoke” sounds like the Everly Brothers lost in a Phil Spector-inspired Twilight Zone. The album closer “Cold Hearted Man” features a stark, wrenching vocal from singer KALEN NASH, sung with acoustic guitar and ambient keys that make this meditation on sin and mortality one of the album’s most chilling moments.
Check out what critics are saying about PONDEROSA’s POOL PARTY:
“A dark groove haunts the soaring chorus and chiming guitars on this track from the rock quintet’s Pool Party.”
–Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY, Playlist re first single “Navajo”, (6/19/12)
“Ponderosa ‘Pool Party’ Imagine The Everly Brothers’ close harmonies tumbling through a psychedelic car wash.”
–Jim Farber, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Top Ten Songs for Sunday, August 5 (8/5/12)
“Pool Party is a summer album in more ways than one. Forget the timing alone; this is the album that will make you crave the long, lazy nights and hot sticky days long after the heat has retreated. Pool Party is a series of sleepy ballads drenched in the nostalgia of our youth. Its lyrics are brimming with former loves and faded memories, and with every new song it ticks off yet another experience many have known.”
— Megan Farokmanesh, PASTE, (8.6-out-of-10 CD review, 7/31/2012)
“…the sound is now pensive, spacey pop with elements of Pink Floyd’s atmospherics mixed into an arty, wistful but accessible cloud. …it’s a step in the right direction as these songs blend together to yield lovely, predominantly pensive music enhanced by overdubs of percussion and multi-layered waves of strummed guitars.”
–Hal Horowitz, AMERICAN SONGWRITER (4 out-of-5 CD review, August 2012)
“Their expansive new deal is a majestic dream-folk sound akin to more baroque peers like Fleet Foxes or Loud Valley. … ‘Navajo’ is an epic beauty.”
–Bao Le Huu, ORLANDO WEEKLY, (4-out of 5 star CD review, 8/2/2012)
“Atlanta’s Ponderosa, which blew everyone away at the Savannah Stopover in March, has a new record out. Pool Party is a sonic wonderland, a multi–hued destination where dreamlike psychedelia meets well–crafted harmonies, where southern–basted rock ‘n’ roll shakes hands with ambient color washes and reverb.”
–Bill DeYoung, CONNECT SAVANNAH, Savannah, GA 8/29/12
“‘Navajo,’ the lead single, has just the right combination of reverb and bombast, especially when the song hits its stride in the chorus.”
–Jon Bernstein, CONSQUENCE OF SOUND, (8/2/2012)
“…southern gothic dream pop…”
–Steve Leggett, ALL MUSIC (7/31/2012)
“Atlanta indie rockers Ponderosa are well worth your attention, combining psychedelic, soul and Southern rock to create music that’s hauntingly beautiful and irresistibly catchy all at the same time.”
–Megan Farokhmanesh, PASTE, (5/22/2012)
“…expansive, celestial sonic quadrants. Soaring, interstellar harmonies, booming drums, spatial textures, offbeat tangents and reverb aplenty are a few of their newfound traits on full display for the new elpee, which brings them closer in approach to that of groups like Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket and Athens’ Futurebirds. “
–Jeff Clark, STOMP AND STAMMER, (5/28/2012)
“…mesmerizing, as in ‘Navajo,’ where the rumbling tension gives way to an emphatic release of energy, or on ‘Pool Party,’ which builds into a kind of heavenly chorale.”
–Lee Zimmerman, BLURT, 7-out-of-10 star album review (8/8/12)
Catch PONDEROSA–KALEN NASH (lead vocals), JOHN DANCE (keyboards/vocals), JONATHAN HALL (bass/vocals), KRIS SAMPSON (lead guitar) and DARREN DODD (drums)–on the road in the following cities:
| DATE | CITY | VENUE | |
| Sat | 9/1 | Savannah, GA | Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Bike Ride |
| Fri | 9/7 | Oxford, MS | Proud Larry’s (w/ The Whigs) |
| Sat | 9/8 | Huntsville, AL | Crossroads Café (w/ The Whigs) |
| Fri | 9/14 | Louisville, KY | Headliner’s Music Hall (w/ The Whigs) |
| Thurs | 9/27 | Auburn, AL | Bourbon Street (w/ The Whigs) |
| Mon | 10/1 | Cincinnati, OH | WNKU Studio 89 |
| Fri | 10/5 | Carrboro, NC | Cat’s Cradle(w/ The Whigs) |
| Sat | 10/6 | Charleston, SC | Pour House (w/ The Whigs) |
| Fri | 10/12 | Greenville, SC | Fall for Greenville Festival |
| Sat | 10/20 | Augusta, GA | Sky City |
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Pictured above, PONDEROSA.
Ponderosa Assets:
Ponderosa (Group photo): http://msopr.com/files/pon-1374-300dpi-small.jpg
Ponderosa Pool Party, album artwork: http://msopr.com/files/ponderosa-_ac.jpg
Watch Ponderosa’s debut live performance of “Navajo” via Paste: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2012/08/video-premiere-ponderosa—navajo-live.html
Ponderosa’s “Get A Gun” on NPR “All Song’s Considered”: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156516525/this-weeks-mix-dinosaur-jr-returns-dark-metal-from-baroness-son-lux-and-more?ps=mh_frimg1
Ponderosa “Black Hill Smoke” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyaWtsbE3A0
Ponderosa online highlights: http://newwestrecords.com/pages/ponderosa-highlights/
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For PONDEROSA publicity in the U.S., contact: MSO–818-380-0400
Libby Coffey/x224, LCoffey@msopr.com
Mitch Schneider/x235,MSchneider@msopr.com
