SHREDnews

By Ashley Pagano

“We marry the dance ethic with the pop ethic, and make something that you can dance and sing along to.” – Yes, that’s how the five-piece Brit band New Young Pony Club puts their music into words, and it’s about right. The new-wave band is from London, England forming back in 2004. Their mix of a rock and dance sound is quite intriguing, but very different to most music in the charts today. The album, The Optimist is their most recent effort, released on March 8^th, 2010.

“Lost A Girl” is the first track, with an upbeat dance sound to get the party started. The vocals are nothing special, but yet there’s still something about them that makes you want to keep listening and never stop. The lyrics are definitely not just your typical ones, and it has the catchy-ness factor going for it, starting off one for one, and then two for two when “Chaos” is introduced. Again, it has the ability to reel in a listener because it has all the important components of a song lyrically and musically, keeping you entertained with the beat. It also has some nice harmonies going for it, adding to the crazy concoction.

“Dolls” got my foot tapping immediately, but the vocals get sort of old at this point. They start off interesting enough but by the end of the album, besides the nice harmonies that come and go, they get a bit, well…annoying. At least the songs still have everything else going for them. “Oh Cherie” makes a great first impression in the introduction with the bass. Though the bass line is very simple and repetitive, it works with the song. It’s a little bit of a slower song this time, but a nice change up from the other tracks nonetheless.

“Rapture” is another nice change. I like that the songs don’t all sound the same, that’s definitely one of the top points of the album. Each song has something you can remember it by, which is really important with music. Some albums, the songs have the same sound, and can bore someone to death before they even get half-way through the CD. In this song, the vocals change into more of singing then a rapping or chanting sound, and are just easy to tell apart from the other songs. This helps the lyrics get stuck in your head easier than before! Therefore, the album is definitely a success in my book. The songs are well written and recorded, and the group is not afraid to stand out.

For Fans Of: Shiny Toy Guns, The Forecast

Overall Rating: 8/10

Recommended Tracks: Lost A Girl, Oh Cherie, Rapture