The Bollard Bulletin for March 31, 2025

Local Music Monday: Jumping into pond 1000

Local Music Monday

The Maine shoegaze band pond 1000 has a recipe. Take singer/songwriter Katie McShane’s ethereal vocals and abstract-impressionist lyrics, swaddle them in a thick blanket of fuzzy guitars over silky sheets of synth, add a teaspoon of pop, a dash of punk and a quarter-cup of prog, blend and serve warm. The result, their debut album daffodiL, is a dish worth savoring.

I’m not a big fan of the shoegaze sub-genre. It tends to sound too muddled, its bands too stingy with the hooks, too afraid to rock. But pond 1000 caught my ear immediately with their latest single, “That Mall Was Mine.” Propelled by an irresistible bass line, it’s catchy as a spring cold, and the gnarly guitars ensure rock is achieved.

Opener “Sugar Cube/Small Cloud” rides a busy, shuffling beat into squalls of noisy guitar juxtaposed with dreamier passages that resolve in its more placid second half. The title track invites math-rock riffs to the party, and they turn it into a rager. Songs like “Rivulet” and “Lie-La-Phone” reveal the group’s ambitiousness, stretching past the five-minute mark to explore novel variations on their central melodies and grooves. “The Shelf” pulls this off in under four, with attitude.

NYC label Sad Cactus Records picked up this band and Maine’s amiright?. Do they know something most local music fans are missing? Yes, but not for long.