I have come to believe – or at least hope -- that the majority of our readers here at TWM are eclectic and open-minded connoisseurs of music. They like a challenge, they appreciate the diamonds in the rough. Well... get ready for challenge here, kids, as I present to you Ponytail!
I received their debut album, Kamehameha, about a week ago, and out of the nice little care package of albums I got, this was the one I was most excited to hear. Okay, all I can say is “WTF?” I couldn't even begin to try and categorize this album with any clichéd, pretentious musical tag line. Is it punk? Is it experimental? Is it thrash?
The answer is that Ponytail is all of the above. The information that came with the album from its label Creative Capitalism tells me that Ponytail was formed in Baltimore, Maryland after the members met at art school. It is a “conceptual art experiment.” Um, yeah...I'm not exactly sure what constitutes a “conceptual art experiment,” but this sure is something else.
Upon receiving the album, I dashed down to my room, plunked myself in front of my computer, opened the creatively-designed little origami package the CD comes is and popped it in. As the rising melodies of the opening track “All Together Now” began I was at first pleased, then dancing a bit in my chair -- and then came the “vocals.” See, if there is any stumbling point for me on the album it is this. The “vocals” -- and I will continue to put that in quotes –by Molly Siegel are of questionable intention.
Musically, this is a great album! It's fun, it's upbeat and energetic; both the guitarists (Ken Seeno and Dustin Wong) and the drummer (Jeremy Hyman) are clearly talented; their songs are well-written, melodic fun. The “vocals” on the other hand...Molly Siegel doesn't sing, at all. Ever. She produces noises that range from the sound your cat might make when you step on its tail, to cutesy little cooing sounds, to demonic howls that would frighten the horns off Lucifer himself. It’s completely out of step with the music, totally bizarre, seemingly useless, ear busting and sometimes grating on the nerves – and entirely charming.
I don't know the thought process that went into bringing Siegel into the mix, and it's debatable whether or not it was a good idea. I say this not because I necessarily dislike the “vocals” here, but because it makes me fear that the majority of people are going to be intensely turned off by Ponytail based solely on those noises emitted from Siegel. Dan had an excellent analogy for me while we were speaking about this album the other day. He told me he was on the train listening to this album, and those around him either were tapping their toes and dancing a bit in their seats or promptly switching to seats a considerable distance away. (Clearly Dan hasn't heard of noise buffering headphones; either that or he strolls through the streets of Toronto old-school style with a boom box planted on his shoulder, ha ha.)
That is the general reaction I think this album is going to produce. But I'm telling you here and now, give it a chance, because you will begin to slowly transform from putting a pillow over your head to tapping you toes and eventually dancing a bit in your seat, if not getting up and thrashing about your room like I have begun to do when listening to it. Tracks like “Start A Corporation”, “Jammin On A Major Scale” and “Lion Down” are -- aside from having great titles -- damn catchy and wickedly infectious. Don't move away, don't change your seat. Stay, listen, appreciate and enjoy.
SCORE: 7
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