SEAPONY - Go With Me

Between nostalgic forty-fives and the myriad sounds scattered across the expanding universe of the web, indie-pop keeps finding new channels for its inexhaustible lifeblood, indifferent to the passing of time yet always subject to a gradual but constant renewal of voices, melodies and performers.

This is how it happens nowadays, with increasing frequency, that old formats find new use among established artists, while new protagonists make the leap from online music distribution to actual record releases. The latter is the case, among many others, of a Seattle trio going by the name Seapony, now making their official debut via Hardly Art, a subsidiary of fellow Seattle label Sub Pop, after releasing a number of singles and free downloads through their own Bandcamp page in recent months.

Built around the songwriting of guitarist Danny Rowland and the light-touch delivery of singer Jen Weidl, the band carves out a decent identity for itself within that strand of airy, dreamy guitar pop vaguely reminiscent of sounds straddling the 80s and 90s, a style that has recently been racking up plenty of success overseas (from Pains Of Being Pure At Heart to Best Coast).

Seapony's dimension, however, is slightly different, both for the sheer naiveté of their melodies and for the pronounced twee-pop accents of songs that mostly run two to three minutes long. Add to that the bare-bones execution of the twelve tracks collected on "Where We Go", entirely devoid of arrangements or production frills and marked by an unvarying drum-machine pulse that only sharpens their lo-fi, bedroom-pop contours.

In short, all elements that, taken separately, might seem perfectly in line with prevailing "indie" taste, but which instead sketch out Seapony as a band more interested in playfully pouring the widest range of influences into their songs - from the noise-pop so à la page today, to the hazy nostalgia of certain Sarah Records releases, by way of sun-drenched takes on surf-pop filtered through a more rock-oriented sensibility.

If the opening of "Go With Me", with its jangly guitars and the nervous drive of "Dreaming", seems to set the stage for just another slightly distorted garage-pop album, Weidl's ethereal voice and dreamy tone soon steer the record's course toward softer territory, made plain by the placid "What You See" and "Blue Star" (not coincidentally redolent of Trembling Blue Stars), as well as toward the recent homespun explorations of Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils ("I Never Would").

By contrast, over the course of the album Seapony also reveal a sunnier, more carefree side, which comes through decisively on tracks like the surf-tinged "Go Away" and in the almost childlike swagger of "I Really Do", emblematic of the genuine pop spirit of a band that skillfully blends reasonably effective melodies and dreamy atmospheres, all coated in a subtle lo-fi patina.

And although, nuances aside, the overall formula ends up a bit one-note – with the tracks, especially toward the end, blurring into one another almost seamlessly – and there's a lack of truly intoxicating pop songs, listening to "Go With Me" is nonetheless pleasant and carefree, ideal for catching some sun on the roads leading into summer. Because, after all, a bit of carefree escapism is sometimes necessary, and indie-pop like Seapony's can make for a fitting soundtrack to it.

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30/05/2011