Ponies In The Surf
A Demonstration EP
(Early Morning Late Night)
Sometimes I find myself at nearly a complete loss when I'm explaining why I enjoy a group to people. Ponies In The Surf are one of those groups that came out of nowhere and simply found themselves stuck in my CD player spin after spin after spin. The interesting thing is that A Demonstration is very dissimilar to what I might ordinarily listen to, yet there's something so simple (dare I say almost naîve) and true that I've found myself hooked.
After playing in rock bands for some time, Alexander McGregor decided at some point that he simply wanted to make some music that could even appeal to his grandmother. Joined by his sister Camille, the duo plays stripped-down folkish type music that sounds like it could have been created at any point in the past 40 years yet still feels fresh. "See You Happy" opens the disc and captures what the group does so well. With only a beat-up old warped acoustic guitar and two-part vocals harmonies, they pull you into their intimate little world.
"More To Living" is a cover of a Linda Rich track written in the 60s and again it feels like you're simply sitting down with the duo at the kitchen table while they sing you a song over breakfast. On "Ventricle" and "Je T'aime," the two toss a little bit more worldly flair into their music, but it never comes off as forced, and "Gipirales" closes out the short release with what is easily the poppiest track on the entire release and again comes off almost effortlessly with vocal hooks that will stick in your head for days. With another release coming soon, I can't wait to see where the group goes from here.
Rating: 7.75
