Paracelsus fans! Now is your time to shine! It seems like every year, album after album comes out, without even one touching on the works of 16th-century German-Swiss physician Paracelsus. Considering every album that is released each year, you’d think at least one would mention this titan of Renaissance thought. And, yet, no! Until now. Philadelphia psych mainstays Bardo Pond are returning with a new album, their first since 2010’s self-titled album (TMT Review). On October 29, Fire Records will release the band’s ninth album, Peace on Venus.
What does this have to do with Paracelsus? It’s a matter of Quintessence. Don’t ask a lamebrain like me to explain this concept, take it from Paracelsus himself:
Nothing of true value is located in the body of a substance, but in the virtue thereof, and this is the principle of the Quintessence, which reduces, say 20 lbs. of a given substance into a single Ounce, and that ounce far exceeds the 20 lbs. in potency. Hence the less there is of body, the more in proportion is the virtue thereof.
In the context of Peace on Venus, Bardo Pond member Michael Gibbons says that the band is following Quintessence by attempting to make an album as potent as possible while being confined to a single LP. Keep that in mind while listening below to the record’s second track, “Taste.”
Peace on Venus tracklist:
01. Kali Yuga Blues
02. Taste
03. Fir
04. Chance
05. Before the Moon
• Bardo Pond: http://www.bardopond.org
• Fire: http://www.firerecords.com
More about: Bardo Pond
