The duo formerly known as Poney Poney have shown a lot of promise with the first tasters of their debut album, with sprightly dance-pop-rock in the vein of Phoenix’s more energetic moments. We’d been looking forward to hearing the full set.
Cross The Fader makes for a typically energetic opener, strutting all over the shop with its gutsy bassline and frenzied guitars. There’s no let up into single I Think I Like U 2, a stomping kick-snare pumping along at a reasonable pace and the ‘80s pop-rock vibe suggesting that maybe it would be better off taken down a few BPM. Short & Entertaining jumps in without pause for breath, but surprises with its sudden move into chugging, phasing rock-guitared half-time stomping – a neat touch.
Things start to falter somewhat though: the guitars get rather too cheesy on Secrets, Jericho feels too much like a re-hash of staid pop rock from Kelly Clarkson to Foreigner, and Gentlemen feels too derivative and throwaway without enough of a good hook to make up for it. Although things pick up against somewhere, there’s so little variety in style and substance and sound the album fast loses its charm. The production from Justice’s Xavier De Rosnay and Daft Punk’s erstwhile engineer Peter Franco is undoubtedly slick, but somewhat bland in its uber-crisp and punchy manner. Over-produced and polished if you will.
While the funked-up frenzy of When Do You Wanna Stop Working leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth, the whole album feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Undoubtedly talented musicians and songwriters, some more variety would have given them a more lasting impression.
[LISTEN TO & BUY THE ALBUM IN THE PLAYER BELOW]