Pony Up - Make Love to the Judges

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 25 / 10 / 2007

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All-girl bands seem to be popular just now. Time was when there wasn’t so many all-female groups so it was always good when a new band came my way. Being a sucker for female vocals of course always helped. But now with so many new female singers and all-female bands vying for our attention all the vocals that once sounded so appealing and different now all sound the same. It’s almost that we now have too much of a good thing. So where once I would have been excited to hear the four strong Pony Up who hail from Montreal this time it was a case of "probably heard it all before" when I received this CD. But with the opening song, ‘Dance With Me’ it was obvious that the band, who wrote all the eleven songs on ‘Make Love To The Judges…’, probably have the edge over their contemporaries. The girls can sing. That’s for sure. In fact in the two lead vocalists, Laura Wills who also handles the keyboards and Sarah Moundroukas who takes the guitar parts, they have two of the best female vocalists who are currently making this type of indie pop. When drummer Lindsay Wills and bass player Lisa Smith join in on backing vocals it’s also obvious that the band are a cut above the rest. Sarah taking five lead vocals and Laura the other seven was an inspired move; there isn’t time to get too familiar with either voice before the other one takes front stage. It adds variety to the album and although there is not a massive difference between the voices at times it is noticeable who is taking the lead on each song. While the band are adept at wrapping their songs in gorgeous melodies ( the opening songs ‘Dance For Me’ and ‘The Truth About Cats And Dogs’ are prime examples of tunes that won’t leave you for days), both the vocals and lyrics have a darker edge to them than the pretty melodies should really allow. And musically there is a lot to keep us interested. The piano on that first song is particularly appealing and as this song is the first time many of us will have heard those vocals it’s a fine way to start the album. The album is a grower; it gets better and better with each and every play. While those melodies do register immediately and we get lost in those engaging vocals it’s not all the songs that have the instant appeal of that opening pair of songs. But curiously ‘The Best Offence’ , ‘Lines Bleed’ and ‘The First Waltz’ which were not the most instant songs are my current favourites. ‘Lines Bleed’ is a particularly haunting song, with excellent playing for all four band members with Sarah especially shining on the guitar. There is definitely something here worth spending time on. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that pulls Pony Up out of the pile and makes them different from the pack ; if it is the vocals that do it or the fact that those self same vocalists also write good solid songs that stand up to repeated playing. But they are definitely a band to keep an eye and ear out for.

Track Listing:-

1 Dance For Me
2 The Truth About Cats And Dogs (Is That They Die)
3 Possible Harm
4 The Best Offence
5 Only Feelgood
6 What's Free Is Yours
7 Ships
8 The First Waltz
9 Pastime Endeavour
10 Make, Model, #
11 Lines Bleed

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