Laced With Romance

VINYL FORMAT. Recommended. Debut album from the Ponys! Featuring members of The Guilty Pleasures and The Hot Machines and recorded by Jim Diamond at his über-hip Ghetto Recorders in Detroit. This music is so infectious it's unbelievable...destined to become one of the most memorable debuts in recent years. "The 12 tracks...are surprisingly polished. Much of the album's appeal is in the vocals: Jered's burnished wail splits the difference between two great Ians of postpunk -- the Bunnymen's McCulloch and Joy Division's Curtis -- while Ian's adenoidal turns as lead singer suggest Peter Perrett of the Only Ones. The band veers between anthems of nihilism ('Let's Kill Ourselves') and sweet odes to house pets ('Little Friends'), running on the energy of thoroughly metabolized new-wave aesthetics and 60s girl-group riffs. There are moments of soft psychedelia, even occasional glimpses of hardcore, but the songs never hold still long enough to be tagged." --Bob Mehr, the Chicago Reader