Pontiak

Blame it on the slow-as-molasses pace of Virginia—or just skip to the drug references—but stoner-rock sibling act Pontiak sure likes to take its time. Most songs on its Thrill Jockey debut, Sun On Sun, wander through arid deserts of sludgy, post-grunge rumbling and spaced-out two-chord bends before getting anywhere remotely interesting, but once the fires have been properly stoked, The Brothers Carney cook up a stew of blues-rock dirges that reveal their complexity the more they’re savored. Where Pontiak doesn’t dally—especially of late—is in the recording process: The brand-new Echo Ono is the brothers’ ninth release in seven years, and finds them swapping instruments and rearranging their studio in pursuit of an “expressionistic record.” The result, as well as a focus on traditional song structures, gives immediacy to the aggressive volleys of noise and loping tangents that barely have time to wander before they implode into sooty smokestack bursts.

Updated 03/27/2012