There's something to be said for the unapologetic tweeness of Pony Up!'s self-titled 2005 debut EP, even if said thing contains a generous helping of words that would make Baby Jesus cry. Despite cloying instrumentation and schmindie vocals extolling things like the virtues of Matthew Modine, the quartet's eponymous recordings got by on an awkward amateurish charm. Part of that charm was a result of the group still finding its voice. Even when the results were less than favorable (and a song about Matthew Modine's lusciousness is a hell of a thing to choke down), they were giving it the old DIY try.
On its debut full-length, Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes, the quartet has come a long way, but often not for the better. Whatever darling ramshackle insouciance Pony Up! once flaunted has been subsumed by a boring ramshackle sincerity. See one emo-esque record title for Exhibit A of this newfound maturity, and whenever they put away their toys and get serious, their po-faced songs write a check that their musical chops just can't cash.
The album starts with a prime example of this clumsy seriousness. "Dance for Me" is a turgid ballad that tries to be both somber ("You rode in on a horse/ I took him, I took him down") and sinister ("Because I've got that look in my eyes/ And you know I could just eat you alive"). Maybe in someone else's hands, or maybe when Pony Up! get more miles under their belt, these moods would be evoked successfully. Instead, we get four minutes of a peppy indie-pop group proving that they just can't drive in the slow lane.
They also can't do country-- "The Best Offence" is a game attempt at twang, but gets tangled in its dreary tempo and rote end-rhymes. The production/engineering tandem of Arcade Fire knob-twiddler Howard Ian Billerman and Amerindie everyman Brian Paulson does the group no favors. They simply record the band as-is, letting the group sink or swim on their own. In the case of the slower songs, they should stick to the shallow end.
That said, this growing-up the group went through did wonders for its more spry numbers. Exchanging their EP's pop-culture fixation for more serious considerations in this album's lyrics, however, lends their zippier compositions some welcome ballast. Numbers like "The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die)" and "Make, Model, #" manage to work out relationship-spawned angst without succumbing to it. The album's best song, "What's Free Is Yours", plays off this friction perfectly, selling a line like, "I don't care if you take my heart" to both believers and cynics. When Pony Up! are good, they're very, very good, and it's moments like this that give me hope these girls figure out their strengths when they return to the studio.
