Free Your Mind and Win a Pony is the debut album from American/Swedish folk duo Tommy Eisner (guitars/vocals) and Linda Beecroft (drums). Recorded on a ranch in the middle of the Californian dessert, far from modern civilisation the pair were obviously affected by the owners passion for all things 1960s.With an album cover that sports Jim Morrison-esque facial hair against a soft focus desert landscape you could be forgiven for judging the book by its cover, as Free Your Mind...is of the hippie-blues variety Facial hair is certainly not where the similarities end, as Golden Animals hail back to the days of the Doors, and Eisner's voice is certainly reminiscent of Jim Morrison.Album opener ‘The Steady Roller' is just pure ‘60s/early ‘70s bluesy folk. Stripped of all the pretensions of folktronica, Eisner's deep, rolling voice keeps in step with the brilliantly stripped down production, while the subtle swirling instrumental and sweet soprano vocals build in the background.Album highlight ‘Queen Mary (The Flop)' builds into such an electrifying frenzy that it must be a live favourite. It's hypnotic rockabilly rhythm is seductively energetic as Eisner's voice jitters feverously over psychedelica guitar "It won't take long/ It won't take long/ I'm gonna' get you back."Comparisons to the White Stripes certainly become apparent in ‘My, My, My' as the howling guitar in the opening seconds is eventually accompanied by quivering vocals and a pounding, catchy beat that would be very much at home with Jack and Meg White.The Golden Animals certainly look back further than the carefree nature of the psychedelic 60s and 70s, to the 1940s when blues, folk and gospel came together to form that first glimpse of rock n'roll. The gospel music inspired ‘Turn You Around (Don't Let Nobody)' is a beautiful, instantly familiar song. It is tinged with a melancholic atmosphere, however the more conventionally jaunty melody loses the exciting rawness of their sound.Baltimore-born Eisner and his Swedish counterpart Beecroft are not really pushing any envelopes with the brilliantly named Free Your Mind and Win a Pony, but what they do, they do very well. 67%Golden Animals on MySpace