By Jennifer Graciano
Seapony have come a long way since their reign on music discovery sites and unwavering presence on various music blogs. The easy breezy pop from the Seattle based three-piece has spread like wild fire, and with only a handful of their dreamy tunes made available, were quickly snatched up by Hardly Art for their debut full length bursting with simplistic charm, “Go With Me.”
Album opener “Dreaming” delivers everything we have come to expect from Seapony; an earworm noise-pop of a track with upbeat effortlessness. “I Never Would” brings the somber side of Seapony to surface, their usual pep cast to the side with standard drum machine beats and dejected vocals. While “Into the Sea” plays off standard surf-rock chords with Jen Weidl’s endearingly flat vocals in tow, easily one of the most memorable on the album. Weidl’s vocals show some potential for range during “I Really Do,” with hints of reflective melancholy over continued surf influenced chords; that potential is never played out as Weidl sings unwaveringly from her comfortable, practically passive, style.
There’s plenty of pop out there for us to realize that something can be simple, quirky, but still stand out and sound exciting. Transitions between “Blue Star“ and “I never Would” are flawless, but not appropriate for this style of music as hardly any of these songs stand out on their own. “So Low,” “Where We Go,” and “With You” teeter on the dangerous ledge of boredom; we get no sense of individuality from this album, it’s adorable music that we will hum to throughout summer, but it’s not engaging whatsoever.
“Nobody Knows” mixes up Seapony’s safe sounds with a bit of experimentation, a refreshing inclusion, and a style that has the potential to set them apart from the throng of acts producing the summer jams many of us love.
It’s clear Seapony have strong noise-pop abilities, why this isn’t the centerpiece to their music is a mystery as they could easily standout from the rest. Their leaning towards a dream pop setting gets tiresome, and really isn’t made for any active listening. With a general sameness to their tunes, this is an album where transitions work almost too well; repeated chords and delicate vocals make one strain to differentiate between cuts. Their debut is solid and is everything fans of Seapony could want in a full length from the trio, but it’s incredibly simple. Listening to the first handful of songs gives you a pretty good idea of what the remainder of their album is like. While clear-cut tunes are expected for this jangly brand of pop, and Seapony clearly follow those standards with a few nice hooks and generally pleasing sounds, they fail to evolve into anything more.
Pick up the album here
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