The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out (Matador)
3/5
By: Sofie Jenkinson
How can we pin down The Ponys? It's never been easy, and this, their third album, offers up no solution to this continual puzzle. A first on new label Matador, they're down one guitarist in the form of Ian Adams who was later replaced with Brian Case, previously plucking away for the 90 Day Men. The new line up has made 'Turn the Lights Out' - a great swirl of darkness.
As highlights go, 'Small Talk', shining out towards the beginning of the album, offers a packed out four and half minutes of experimental sounds and glorious pillars of guitar cascading over the soft padding bass of Melissa Elias, everything skimming and dancing above the solid rhythm and vaporous vocals playing in the shade of Thurston Moore's legacy.
The ebb and flow of this record is inconsistent to say the least, but, in broad terms it seemingly burns itself out just a bit too early. All the Biff! Kapow! Wham! crackling happens within the first few minutes of the record as 'Double Vision' rings out with potential in every note, but this is something which is never quite recreated through the rest of record. Put simply, there just isn't enough fight in it - loud noises do not always equal passion.
Otherwise, the first hunk of 'Turn The Lights Out' offers up a disproportionately high amount of satisfying musical savvy, the tail end clunking about somewhere between experimental and b-side reject. Naming a song 'Exile on My Street' could certainly be a side effect of such a thing, but closing track 'Pickpocket Song' certainly illustrates the weaker end of the spectrum.
It accumulates into somewhat of a repetitive stupor, familiarly seeping into your pores - this sits comfortably to begin with, but eventually tends to cause chafing in some areas. Amongst these moments of annoyance, where one often feels badgered to 'chill the f**k out man', there are some genuine slices of delight, and a hell of a lot of untapped potential.
Artists in this article: The Ponys
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment