Seapony - go with me (Hardly Art, 2011)

35 minutes, 12 songs following the same indie twee pop format,  Seapony offers a debut album whose efficiency just balances the lack of surprise.

I feel like having experienced a time machine and found myself in 1992 with their pure twee indiepop, simple, bright and melodic. 

The band is from Seattle,  with the usual setup guitar / bass / drums (machine)  & vocals, but they could have been from Indonesia like Sunny Summer Day or from The Philippines like Moscow Olympics, from France like The Sunny Street or from Sweden like Sambassadeur.

Seapony is the project of Danny Rowland (who writes the songs), Jen Weidl (who sings), and Ian Brewer (who plays bass).  They are now joined by Johnny Bryan who plays drums for their live shows.

I think the main problem of this record is the prevalence of efficiency over particularity. Seapony totally embraces the twee indie pop scene and fits (too) perfectly in the crowd of their genre. 

I would have a hard time to find something which is specific to them and out of ordinary. If this style of music is your cup of tea, this is delicious, but if you are more partial they may lack of some subtance and a part of this record is formulaic, like "Dreaming", "Into the sea", "Go Away", "Always" or "With you".

I prefer when they slow things down like on "I never would", throw some shoegaze reverb in the mix on "Blue Star", combine innocence with melancholy on " I really do", explore the Human Television laid-back style on "So Low", or the late autumn Sarah records attitude of "Where we go". The highlight of the album is for me "What you see" which sounds like a strange meeting between The Softies and Galaxie 500.

http://hardlyart.com/seapony.html