The Ponys

Although the opener, "Double Vision," builds to a driving, distorted '80s car jam, don't expect the rest of Turn The Lights Out to continue down the nostalgia trip of that decade. The record's blur of sonics beg, borrow and steal from the past 40 years of guitar rock. An agreeable hodge-podge of garage, shoegazing post-pop and proto punk allows "Small Talk" to evoke the electric piano twilight of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and the languid "Shine" and "1209 Seminary" seem like lost My Bloody Valentine b-sides.

The Ponys' excellent garage-y-punky releases of 2004 and 2005 were proof of a form, not
evidence of a mission. Delights in themselves – especially the loose-lipped debut, Laced
With Romance – they promised nothing, not even that the next album would be any good.
Perhaps due to the replacement of touring-averse keyboardist-guitarist Ian Adams by
Chicago stalwart Brian Case, perhaps due to ye olde maturity, their move from le... More >

The Ponys' excellent garagey-punky releases of 2004 and 2005 were proof of a form, not evidence of a mission. Delights in themselves, they promised nothing, not even that the next album would be any good. Perhaps due to the replacement of touring-averse keyboardist-guitarist Ian Adams by Chicago stalwart Brian Case, perhaps due to ye olde maturity, their move from lesser indie In the Red to greater indie Matador takes an echoed-up tack that's more Sonic Youth than Voidoids. But as the Ponys crash and boom and reverberate, never think they resemble either of these bands who promise plenty. Instead, their forebears are more along the lines of faux-arena formalists like Dinosaur Jr. and Spiritualized. This is the Ponys' next album, and let no one say it isn't any good--or much of anything else. As for the lyrics, there are some. (Grade - ***)