In keeping with promises made earlier this year, Pond‘s Joseph Ryan and Jay Watson (also of Tame Impala) have each released a track from their upcoming solo albums.
In a January interview with Tone Deaf Watson, detailed his and Ryan’s plan to simultaneously release their solo projects. “The dude with the afro in Pond, me and him have decided we’re going to drop our albums at the same time, same day, which should be fun,” said a jovial Watson.
And so amidst Grammy nominations, ARIA wins and NME top 50 listings the bandmates/competitors have found the time to today give us a taste of their full-length solo debuts as GUM (Jay Watson) and Shiny Joe Ryan, both due for release in early 2014.
Growin’ Up, is a second taste from the GUM debut album, after Watson dropped title track Delorean Highway last year. It’s packed to the brim with atmospheric, drifty guitars and imbued with the right amount of Pond/Tame Impala-brand psychedelia. A tasty lead into GUM’S 10-track collection of self-described “paranoid pop songs.”
The Shiny Joe Ryan single is entitled The Cosmic Microwave Background and as the name suggests features some seriously spacey guitar licks. Accompanied by delicate vocals and a steady piano intro, the track is described by the management label Spinning Top Music as “a heart-rending journey of interstellar innocence, staggering like a ketamine invalid and sailing like a rocket.”
Both tracks are now available as a free download.
Listen: GUM – Growin’ Up
Listen: Shiny Joe Ryan – The Cosmic Microwave Background
