This reviewing lark isn’t always as easy as it looks. The amount of absolute rubbish that gets sent to you would make even Al Gore blush, but sometimes, just sometimes, a little gem of a record arrives which opens your eyes and your ears to something different. The Ponys lastest album, Turn The Lights Out, did exactly that. From the opening burst of guitars on Double Vision to the last guitar yelps on the closer Pickpocket Song I was mesmerised. This is a record brimming with chiming, crashing and angular guitar riffs all rolled into one thumping, hulking beast of an album.

Their sound seems to have found them in the mysterious zone between Sonic Youth and the garage rock bands of the 70’s like The Stooges. The production is heavy and murky, the guitars and drums all jostle for space whilst it sounds like they were recorded in a house but in very different rooms. The vocals sound as if they were recorded in the attic, all echoey and slightly strained, they’re deep but never forced. It comes a surprise, at least to me, that this album is, in fact, The Pony’s third effort. But going back to listen to their earlier material suggests that they’ve honed their sound, this is a development of ideas and music onto another level. The songs are full of intricate riffs and blemishes of Hammond organ here and there to just further augment the songs. The title track could be a dirtier 70’s rock brother to The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends, whilst Exile On My Street brims with searching guitars and haunted vocals all pulsing through its two minutes. Album closer Pickpocket Song bleeds Sonic Youth through a curtain of indie-pop, the song sounds too full of hope and school-yard vocals to be Sonic Youth, but it’s wall of dripping, blipping guitars that is descends into is a heavy nod in their direction.

The only failing with this album is that it kicks off with it’s stand out track, but the following tracks are of such a high quality that in the end this slips your mind quickly and you find yourself falling into a dirty, dark and fucked up world that’s been created for you by The Ponys.

Links:
The Ponys [official site] [myspace]
Matador Records [record sampler]