Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual

Let’s face it, despite their many accolades, Video Hippos, Yeasayer, and Dan Deacon are only starting to traverse past the “goof ball” descriptors they were initially shackled with at first pass. Ponytail‘s Ice Cream Spiritual serves as a frenetic preview of sorts for Deacon’s self-proclaimed serious album this fall. Deacon has praised the Charm City spaz-rockers’ live energy in many interviews and coming from him that’s certainly not a moot compliment. I haven’t heard them live myself but from any indication they would most likely cave in the roof by turning it into confetti.Kamehameha, Ponytail’s 2007 debut from ultra-independent label We*Are*Free held a close microscope to the young punks’ live show. Maybe a little too close. Apparently Kamehameha was recorded during one sweaty afternoon and it shows. Songs usually read like glorified guitar screes with no clear purpose. The old punk modus operandi “let’s throw this against the wall and see what sticks” worked only in quick stabs. Ice Cream Spiritual received some needed attention, with the band stretching out their stay with producer J. Robbins (Yeasayer, Against Me!, The Dismemberment Plan, ) at Magpie Cage in Baltimore.

The producer choice is pitch perfect since Robbins played in many cacophonous bands himself – most notably the ’80s Washington, D.C. hardcore addicts, Government Issue. Its no big surprise then that Ice Cream Spiritual is more of a structured art-punk tirade then a restrained mature sophomore album. Ponytail conflate the utilitarian components of punk (a tight guitar battle between Ken Seeno and Dustin Wong) with the atypical drum epileptics from Jeremy Hyman. Vocalist Molly Spiegel hooks Ponytail’s equation up to a car battery. Her approach is far removed from conventional singing but there are moments on the pseudo-centerpiece,  ’Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)’ (the 7-minute running time gives it away), that seem almost like operatic caterwauling.

On ‘Beg Waves’ she trills like a bird or a yard duty whistle busting some kid. If Brian Wilson’s light vocal harmonies were a “teenage symphony to God” then Ponytail is all the mental baggage we carry into adulthood scrawled on the walls in glorious finger paint. ‘G Shock’ throws warbling phantom vocals and metal squalls at us. The breakneck drum kit is up front in the mix pounding the rest of elements into submission. The roughly 3-minute result only lets up for a muted version of the main riff and Siegel’s distant coos.

Much of what Siegel and her compatriots barter with is firmly ensconced in youth or maybe I’m just too old to think anything so crazed could be rooted in experiences at an office day job. ‘Late For School’ even contains a bridge section that nods towards that calamitous moment when you totally realize you’re totally gonna be tardy. The fuzzy guitars break like pop rocks over Siegel’s shrill cries. At times it reminds me of Boris’ manic and wordless vocalizations. Borrowing some of the tribalism their labelmates Yeasayer showed with All Hour Cymbals, Ponytail cinch up that flailing guitar rock only during the introductory riffs. After that, the doors are open for bright melody experimentation that often leave you breathless and craving for more. Despite all the frenzy Ponytail only gets tiresome during ‘Die Allman Bruder.’ It seems like a inverted rehash of ‘G Shock’”s main riff.

Outlandish tracks like ’7 Souls’ and ‘Sky Drool’ continue the band’s sugar-induced acid trip that borders on pop transcendence. ’7 Souls’ is chock full of animals calls. Ice Cream Spiritual feel likes a particularly appropriate title. The water-color splashed artwork on the cover nails this band’s unhinged fervor even more. There’s always the chance that some will get an ice cream headache but for those that love a little chaos injected into their music – Ponytail deliver.
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