Pond have returned. One of Australia's most exciting bands, comprised of Nick Allbrook, Jay Watson, Joe Ryan, Jamie Terry and James Ireland, have returned with the highly anticipated new album Terrestrials. Refreshingly intentional and thoughtful, the record explores issues such as Australia Day, Indigenous incarceration, capitalism and inequality in Australia, while also taking on a bold new sonic direction for the band. The rules going into its creation were simple: no fuzz pedals, no ballads and no "Pink Floyd shit". The result is one of the most interesting albums of the year so far - a record that feels far more indebted to post-punk and new wave than traditional Aussie rock. Ahead of the band going on a headline North America tour, we caught up with Nick to talk about the making of the album:

I love the album. I've been listening to it today, and I'm obsessed with Personal Hell.

That's my favourite.

I also really appreciate the inspiration behind Two Hands. I've been listening to that a lot over the last week, and I thought maybe we could start there. It's always nice to talk to artists who are inspired by real issues and want to voice how they feel about things through music. Tell me about the writing process for that song in particular. Do you remember the day that spark of inspiration hit?

No, but I remember where I was. I was walking home across Fremantle Oval at night, and the sprinklers in the park had come on, so I was dodging them. I was just thinking as I walked, humming to myself. I started humming the tune, and then it turned into words. At least for the chorus. The verse, I can't really remember. That was just some angry Nick, scrolling away. Joe wrote the chord progression in the verse, which for a long time was called "Joe Goth" because he kept playing it at soundcheck and Gum would do this goth voice over it. That's about all I remember.

Is the rest of the album driven by similar inspiration and rage? Is there an overarching theme, for lack of a better word, or is every song quite individual?

They're pretty individual, I reckon, but they're definitely all tied together. There's a lot of similar themes between Two Hands, Casuarina, and a few others.

I read the rules for making the album, which I'm sure everyone's going to ask you about. Why did you enforce those rules? Was it important to put in black and white how different you wanted this album to be?

That's a really good question. And you're right, everyone asks about it, but that's a different way of looking at it. That's pretty much it, though. We wanted it to be fast. You can codify, in a really dumb way, a lot of what we've done before with fuzz and Pink Floyd shit, so we were just like, "That's not allowed this time."

Do you feel confident in doing that?

Yeah. I'm totally fine with it. It's still pretty digestible, I reckon. It's still rocking. I'm sure there'll be a lot of giant tortoise psych-rock dudes out there with a bee in their bonnet about it, but that's up to them.

I think it still has your DNA. Was there a particular song you're especially proud of finishing and putting on this album?

Actually, Personal Hell. I don't know, it's one of those songs where I really put on my songwriter hat. I wrote it at the piano and developed it from there. I'm really happy with the lyrics and what it's about. It feels important.

Then I brought it in and collaborated with Gum, and he added that really rock, chugging section to make it feel a bit more pub. I'm really proud of that one. I'm also proud of the last song, Nashville I'm Dying.

I love that one too.

Thank you. It was so shit for so long. It was basically a bunch of good lyrics, and I kept thinking, "There's a little kernel of hope inside this. I swear it's going to be good somehow." I had it over a couple of chords that made it sound like Sherry Darling from The River by Bruce Springsteen—a really cheesy bar song. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out a better way of doing it.

We tried heaps of times. Eventually it just happened. It's a testament to the fact that some shit takes time. After about four different incarnations, and probably the rest of the band getting frustrated with Nick's little Nashville song that just didn't work, I finally came back and said, "All right, I know you're going to hate me, but I think I've got it."

What's funny is that song came from my neighbour, Brenton. He's a saint and a lovely, classic bogan Australian suburban legend. One of those real ideas men. He's always dropping by with a casserole or something and saying, "You know what, Nick? I had an idea." One day he told me, "You should write a song about Nashville. It's like a Christmas song. Everyone wants a Christmas song at some point, and there are so many people in Nashville who want to hear a song about Nashville." He said, "If you want to make some money in music, write a Christmas song or a song about Nashville." And I was like, "Yeah, fucking whatever, Brenton. Sure, mate. Give me your casserole and fuck off." I love him, though. Later that day, he slipped some pieces of paper under my front door. He'd written a song about Nashville.

It was the only song he'd ever written, and probably the only song he'll ever write. He just had this moment of inspiration and wrote a song. I didn't use the lyrics, but the fact that he did it was beautiful.

Is he expecting credit?

I hope not, because I didn't give him any. But I'll definitely give him his flowers in the media.

Shout out Brenton. You had those rules for the album. Does that change what the live show is going to look like?

It'll just mean more fast songs, which is great. We did a regional tour of Australia a couple of years ago and had two songs from this album in the set. We were like, "Goddamn, it feels good playing at this tempo and with this aggression at the Barwon Heads Hotel." We thought, let's make sure the whole album feels like that so we can do it for a full hour.

Now you're going to be playing those songs to an insane amount of people in America.

Yeah. Exactly. Weird. But the show will probably still be pretty similar. We'll chuck in a bunch of the old songs too.

Are there any artists you've been listening to lately that you're excited about?

Yeah. I've been listening to this Irish band called Music City. Their most recent album is Welcome to Music City. They're such a good-time rock and roll band—like Springsteen, Big Star, or The Cars. I fucking love that stuff.

There's a lot of interesting music around. I really like GRUBB from Perth. And Clove. Clove are a local Perth band and, honestly, if anyone reads this, the one takeaway should be: listen to Clove.

I love Clove.

Yeah, they're amazing. So good. There are actually some tracks on that album that are almost too cheesy, but Pretty Feelings absolutely rips. It's so good.

What's next?

First, releasing this album. Then some gigs with my new band, Walrus. We're playing RTR In The Pines this weekend. I'm also putting out a collaborative album with Nathaniel Hoho from America. We made it last year, and it's going to be called Glass Barbie. So it's a big year. There'll be Pond, Glass Barbie, and Walrus. Then I guess we'll go back to the chisel and stone with Pond. Keep chiselling away and do it all over again.

Listen to Terrestrials HERE.

@ponderers