The Pretty In Pink: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Granddaddy had a baby. It was a little girl. They named her Pony Up. Indeed, a strange name for a strange girl.
Pony Up is four Montreal girls, singer/guitarist Sarah Moundroukas, singer/keyboardist Laura Wills, drummer/little sister Lindsay Elizabeth Wills and bassist Lisa J. Smith-just doing their part to dispel the myth about Canadians being Polite. Moundroukas and (Laura) Wills take turns tackling the singing of the songs. Interesting because the girls have such different and distinct singing voices what with Wills sounding like a young Caitlyn Cary, and Moundroukas sounding like Fiona Apple if Fiona Apple wasn’t Fiona Apple.
Pony Up make the kind of defiantly fast tempo crappy-guitars-and-fuzzy-keys, stripped down two-minute indie rock/pop that even their producer Arcade Fire’s Howie Bilerman couldn’t get orchestral on. Sneaky Bilerman did get his sweet revenge - Phil Spector style. No he didn’t Allegedly do anything, shame on you. He merely got the girls to sing in a ‘you will be the next Ronettes’-style choir on many of the songs. Bilerman was a part time employee, leaving for maternity reasons–later being replaced by Brian patience Paulson (Wilco.)
Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes is Pony Up’s first full-length album, the follow up to last years critically…mixed reviewed self-titled EP. Pony Up got their start – so goes the story- by handing their just for fun demo to Ben Lee at one of his shows. When he looked at them he saw himself – once he was all young and full of stuff, too. Lee signed the girls to his imprint Ten Fingers. Nowadays Pony Up call Dim Mak home. Dim Mak owner Steve “(DJ) Kid Millionaire” Aoki (son of Rocky Aoki - the Benihanas guy) is their Ben Lee now.
It’s not all inappropriate crushes (“Matthew Modine”), leggings and oversized tops. Like Wills sings in “The First Waltz” Pony Up! has “Grown a few inches” since their Pony Up EP. Here, even though they’ve been inspired by competitive ice skating (Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes) Pony Up has pathos to spare from the #2 pencil handwritten cursive lyrics in their CD booklet, to the words of “The Best Offence” (“My self-respect means more to me than you do/ or at least it used to/ I miss not knowing you so well) and Moundroukas’ plaintive plea, “Don’t leave me here…” in “Lines Bleed”. |