The Practice of Joy Before Death

The album was produced by Pond and Adam Kaspar.{{cite web |title=Pond |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/pond/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=29 January 2022}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Hughley |first1=Marty |title=POND EXPLORES NEW SHORES |work=The Oregonian |date=January 29, 1995 |page=F1}}

The band filtered its vocals through a megaphone on "Carpenter Ant"; they used a sitar on "Sundial".{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Tom |title=Small splash, big waves |work=Staten Island Advance |date=April 16, 1995 |page=E2}} "Van" is an ode to Pond's mode of transportation during tours.{{cite web |title=The tour van received its ideal tribute from a singular '90s group |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-tour-van-received-its-ideal-tribute-from-a-singular-1798247427/amp |website=The A.V. Club |access-date=29 January 2022}}

{{album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-practice-of-joy-before-death-mw0000122737|title=The Practice of Joy Before Death - Pond | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}

|rev2 = Calgary Herald

|rev2score = B+{{cite news |last1=Petrick |first1=Jeff |title=RECENT RELEASES |work=Calgary Herald |date=5 Mar 1995 |page=C2}}

|rev3 = Robert Christgau

|rev3score = {{Rating-Christgau|hm2}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1091&name=Pond|title=Robert Christgau: CG: Pond|website=www.robertchristgau.com}}

|rev4 = Daily Breeze

|rev4score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite news |title=Imaginative Pond is worth jumping into |work=Daily Breeze |date=February 17, 1995 |page=K31}}

|rev5 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev5score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=6 |page=587}}

|rev6 = Vancouver Sun

|rev6score= {{rating|3|4}}{{cite news |last1=Armstrong |first1=John |title=Recordings |work=Vancouver Sun |date=6 Apr 1995 |page=C8}}

}}

Trouser Press stated: "Largely repudiating pop, the trio ... head toward the emo-core of bands like Polvo and Sunny Day Real Estate." The Calgary Herald concluded that "few musicians can actually balance raw instinct and fashionable music so beautifully." 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." Robert Christgau praised "Van" and "Sideroad".

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."{{cite news |title=POND'S APPEALING DISTORTION |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/02/24/ponds-appealingdistortion/c939e428-d48f-4256-9460-239db1ce5897/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=29 January 2022}} 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."{{cite journal |last1=Rotondi |first1=James |title=Listen to the color of your dreams -- The Practice Of Joy Before Death by Pond |journal=Guitar Player |date=May 1995 |volume=29 |issue=5 |page=127}} The Philadelphia Inquirer opined that Pond "returns to the best elements of its previous effort, while managing to sound more accomplished."{{cite news |last1=Sherr |first1=Sara |title=POND |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=24 Feb 1995 |location=FEATURES WEEKEND |page=16}} 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."{{cite news |last1=Wilonsky |first1=Robert |title=Reviews |work=Dallas Observer |date=February 2, 1995 |location=Music}}

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." The A.V. Club labeled The Practice of Joy Before Death the band's "masterpiece."

1. Sideroad
2. Mubby's Theme
3. Union
4. Magnifier
5. Patience
6. Ol' Blue Hair
7. Sundial
8. Glass Sparkles in Their Hair
9. Van
10. Happy Cow Farm Family
11. Carpenter Ant
12. Artificial Turf
13. Rock Collection
14. Gagged & Bound

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Category:1995 albums

Category:Sub Pop albums