When it comes to any sort of "pop" music - which for me could be anything from British Sea Power to Kate Bush to Feist to Gnarls Barkley - I have always had a conflicted relationship. One the one hand, my passion for the weird and contrarian styles are too pronounced to allow me to enjoy the majority of popular music; I tend to reach first for noise or free jazz or hyper-indulgent prog. On the other hand, I'm a sucker for hooks and "classic" pop sensibility (enter my fascination with Ben Folds). All this is simply to explain that Ponies in the Surf was a particularly trying record for me to listen to, since at first spin it flew in the face of all that I revere about music.
That said, See You Happy is a pretty good little indie pop collection. As is so often the case with groups that have both male and female vocals, one really can't help but be sucked in and feel like an observant third party to a really interesting conversation. Ponies certainly doesn't buck any trends here - Camile McGregor's vocals are pedestrian yet plaintiff, with that mezzo-soprano twang that has become so popular, while her brother Alex tends to speak melodically as much as sing, sort of like David Byrne. This combination has an ecclectic, weird-kid vibe to it that creates a similar impression to watching The Breakfast Club. It's a case of being cool because they're too weird to be cool, a dorks-and-outcasts-unite sort of thing.
What really sold me on this album is the guitar work. It has this neat Latin kick to it that takes Ponies in the Surf from being another Shins rip-off to being an interesting group in their own right. In fact, it's pretty clear that whichever of the two is responsible for the strings has very solid grasp on what they're doing - check out the intro to "Walkin' in the City", with its flamenco-meets-1960s psychedelia melody.
It is easy to get lost in See You Happy. Played like a normal record, the songs blur into one another without much immediate distinction. That's not the fault of Ponies' songwriting, though, so much as the unfortunate consequence of their instrumentation. One can only tweak the sound of a clean or acoustic guitar and light drums so much. Rest assured that every song has a character all its own; the McGregors float from that retro-'60s sound to late '50s Latin jazz at points to very contemporary indie pop reminiscent of Blonde Redhead or the like.
All told, See You Happy is a very successful record. Though incessantly happy in one regard or another, it is result of two talented people crafting interesting songs together and executing them as well as can be hoped. It is not a particularly groundbreaking record, but innovative and enjoyable have never been mutually exclusive categories, and as far as the latter one is concerned, Ponies in the Surf have produced a winner.
-Lee Stablein