Here's a sonic kaleidoscope for you. Take one part My Bloody Valentine, one part Stereolab, one part alcoholic blackouts and one part Hackney attitude -they live in said London borough's Dalston area. Mix together in a big tin bathtub and you got yourself a Snowpony.
Their latest LP takes the dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards guitars of My Bloody Valentine and the loopy keyboards of Stereolab (which makes sense since two of the quartet used to be in the aforementioned bands) but instead of shaping them into something new and taking things to the next level, they decide to sound like those bands' psycho ex-girlfriends. The album doesn't break up into individual songs since Kath Gifford's girly, samey vocals override each piece, making 'Sea Shanties...' seem like one very long song.
Lyrics chock-full of cashing dubious cheques, throwing yourself into rivers and kipping down in flophouses just add to the grimy vibe that this album spatters around in. It is reminiscent of the feeling you get when you wake up in a booze-soaked haze with someone whose name you don't remember and have no idea how you got there in the first place. If there is one over-riding theme here it's water. Not sure if its significance lies in the idea of cleansing, baptisms or just the fact that worse things happen at sea - but they have latched onto it and aren't letting go.
Snowpony are not for people who like their music served in easily digestible bite-sized chunks. 'Sea Shanties...' is for people who want to spend some time with what they listen to and have something of a dark side to their personality. Just like waking up in a stranger's bed is something everyone should experience, the same goes for Snowpony. But only if you are strong enough to handle it.
