| The Practice of Joy Before Death | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Label | Sub Pop [1] | |||
| Producer | Pond, Adam Kaspar | |||
| Pond chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Practice of Joy Before Death is an album by the American alternative rock band Pond, released in 1995. [2] [3] Its first single was "Glass Sparkles in Their Hair". [4]
The album was produced by Pond and Adam Kaspar. [5] Pond started the album in a basement studio, using an 8-track and recording at different times and with different instruments; Kaspar then remixed some of the songs. [6]
The band filtered its vocals through a megaphone on "Carpenter Ant"; they used a sitar on "Sundial". [7] [8] "Van" is an ode to Pond's mode of transportation during tours. [9]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| Calgary Herald | B+ [11] |
| Robert Christgau |  [12] |
| Daily Breeze | [7] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [13] |
| Vancouver Sun | [14] |
Trouser Press stated: "Largely repudiating pop, the trio ... head toward the emo-core of bands like Polvo and Sunny Day Real Estate." [5] The Calgary Herald concluded that "few musicians can actually balance raw instinct and fashionable music so beautifully." [11] The Vancouver Sun determined that Pond "churn out a kind of guitar pop that comes from growing up with Pere Ubu, the Pixies and Sonic Youth as songwriting models." [14] Robert Christgau praised "Van" and "Sideroad". [12]
The Washington Post wrote that Pond's "sound is neither pop nor ('Carpenter Ant' aside) metal but swoony low-tech psychedelia; such trippy songs as 'Magnifier' and 'Glass Sparkles in Their Hair' employ droning, circular riffs and the heavily mutated sounds of toy pianos and (apparently) whatever else was lying around." [15] Guitar Player called the album "utterly unpredictable indie-rock chock-full of melodic songs, deep textures, and moods that spirit you away with your balance shaken." [16] The Philadelphia Inquirer opined that Pond "returns to the best elements of its previous effort, while managing to sound more accomplished." [17] The Dallas Observer thought that "the sound is alternately beautiful and harrowing, songs that jangle along their way until they erupt into bizarre bursts of feedback or minor-chord riffs." [18]
AllMusic wrote that "the less-is-more production and incisive songwriting make The Practice of Joy Before Death the best of Pond's three albums." [10] The A.V. Club labeled The Practice of Joy Before Death the band's "masterpiece." [9]
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