The Oxygen Ponies
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The Oxygen Ponies

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The best kept secret in music

Press


""One of the best debuts of the year""

The self-titled debut from The Oxygen Ponies is an melancholy record that rings with intimacy and familiarity–not only because singer/songwriter Paul Megna’s compositions bare resemblance to classic artists such as Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, but also because the songs are so deeply personal. There’s something incredibly stirring about the combination of Paul Megna’s eerily rough voice combined with his poignant lyrics.

While The Oxygen Ponies’ songs are often simplistic in nature and meaning, they express enough to make you fall into a gloomy cloud of comtemplation. Beautiful songs like “Devotion” and “Truest Thing” make me reminice about past relationships and why they failed; Megna’s songs can bring back those memories in instants. There are quite a few quotable lyrics on the new record. From “Brooklyn Bridge”: “‘Cause I have known a lot of girls / In that swimming pool called romance / Where simple oysters crush the pearls / With a steel toe’s swift advance.“

My only real issue with this CD is that in a few songs, the music should have complimented the writing better. Some songs are the record are practically just Mr. Megna on his acoustic guitar (like “It’s Yr Life”). While it still gets the job done well and allows the songs to be very tender and expressive, I like the side of their music with a jazzier swagger–the songs that manage to have horns, organ, and rough, distorted guitar parts (see: Dinosaur Jr.?) all in one. As about half of the songs on the record are more acoustic-sounding, I hope that this side is a direction the band is going to start leaning towards or experimenting with. Either way, The Oxygen Ponies are a great band with a great amount of potential; I think we’ll expect great things from them in the future.

Overall, it’s a pretty solid album–I’d almost venture to say that it’s going to be one of the best full-length debuts this year. - Catching Signals


"Sounds Great"

Paul Megna is another Tape Op reader and his Oxygen Ponies project sounds great. His concise bio card that states, "...the honesty of Leonard Cohen, the intimacy of Elliott Smith and 'Blood on the Tracks' era Bob Dylan," introduces a CD that will not leave fans of these three musicians disappointed. Produced, engineered and mixed by Don Piper and mastered by Dave McNair. - Tape Op Magazine Issue#55 Oct/Nov 2006


""Gorgeous, hazily atmospheric and intelligently written""

The Oxygen Ponies are the work of New York actor and musician Paul Megna, whose bio is an almost comically over-the-top catalog of misery: "Taught to play guitar by his friend Jeff Buckley after being shot in the neck by a sniper," "perfected his style during a seven month stretch in Sag Harbor after thwarting a girlfriend's suicide attempt," "decided to record this album upon ending a five year relationship just a few months before the scheduled wedding date." It's no surprise, then, that the music skews melancholy, with Megna often sounding heartbroken and a little dazed at his own loneliness, but it's also gorgeous, hazily atmospheric and intelligently written. "Get Over Yrself," on which Megna sounds a little bit more forceful, a little less lost and alone, and quite a bit like Joe Henry, stands out in part because of Don Piper's eerie production. - Salon.com/Audiophile


"The Best Hard Crash Record of 2006"

The Oxygen Ponies have name-dropped a few heavy hitters promoting this eponymous release:Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen and (of course) Dylan. This will definitely win over some new fans but it's a bit misleading. Paul Megna, the songwriting core of the Ponies, clearly has more than one Afghan Whigs record in his collection. He tackles the same lyrical ground and epic insturmentation of Greg Dulli and& Company, with a few crucial differences. Dulli was always ready to turn his post-breakup frustrations into violent altercations with the world and put some poor, unsuspecting chap in the hospital.

Megna's characters, on the other hand, can't even pull away from the bottle, let alone the computer. These songs are shot on location in someone's Sunday morning apartment and they stay there. The protagonists huff, puff and threaten, but they aren't standing at the end of round 1. The arrangements are gorgeous and tired, ebbing and flowing for the entire course of the record. Megna is a talented lyricist, preferring to contrast simple, universal choruses with rich, original imagery in the verses.

A final note to the listener; Paul Megna apparently likes his coffee and expects the same of his listeners. There is no abrasive fist-pumper on "The Oxygen Ponies" (that would make the hangover much worse). Patience, atentiveness and caffeine are highly recommended. Easily the best hard crash record of 2006.
- Deli Magazine Fall 2006


""Don't want to miss out on""

Pop-rock group the Oxygen Ponies are on their own. Having been named as one of the “best albums of 2006” by a few bloggers, the Oxygen Ponies have taken that Internet super-stardom and turned it into a singer/songwriter’s dream. Folksy pop that belies great lyricism and witty lo-fi song arrangements, make this album one you definitely don’t want to miss out on. - SMOTHER.NET


""Melancholic Slow Tempo Beauty""

Melancholic slow-tempo beauty

The Oxygen Ponies self-titled album is a sad album for lonely nights, yet the quality of the album means that instead of a state of depression a feeling of hope is left instead. Beautifully, well-crafted songs showcase an imagination that will not be led on by bare, acoustic songs. Reminiscent of YHF at times, a balance is achieved where emotions are allowed to shine through and not being lost in a confusion of noise.

Opening track ‘It’s Yr Life’ sets the tone for the album. “You can do what you like, it’s your life”. A feeling of sadness is encompassed in the song, and is not tempered but allowed to thrive. ‘Truest Thing’ reiterates the YHF point. Unconventional instruments for folk music are used, yet the song doesn’t lose its meaning at all. Instead, they add to the effect Paul Megna achieves with his vocals and his song writing. Finally, the fantastic ‘The Quickest Way To Happiness’ finishes the album. Beautifully arranged, this song, and indeed this album, could become modern classics if given half a chance.
- AMERICANA UK


""A Historical Gem, A Haunting Reminder of Musicians Gone By...""

On reviewing this record there were a number of avenues we could have taken. We could have referred to this album as a historical gem, a haunting reminder of legendary musicians gone by. We could have likened the commanding nature of tracks to those on classic, somewhat undiscovered albums such as Jeff Buckley's 'Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk)'. We could have also pushed the boat out and discussed how suggesting Brooklyn's Paul Megna (the voice and soul behind the Oxygen Ponies) could some day be viewed as a modern day Bob Dylan. None of that would be untrue, and in fact would provide a hearty insight, a reflection on one of many possible somewhat explosive reactions on hearing the Oxygen Ponies for the first time. But we think this record's enchanting complexity deserves more than that. More than just a label, more than just a passive subjective 'summing up'.

The Oxygen Ponies will invite you into a tale, spanning a period of Paul Megna's life that saw sorrow clash with realisation; and walking backwards clashing with running ahead. What started out as a 'break-up' record in the recording process, seemingly became more a record about self-realisation. Melodies haven't been created by chance. Lyrics aren't cliched. Nothing in the Oxygen Ponies sound is by chance. Lyrics are honest, reflective and poetic enough to be bound and published. Melodies are gentle; and encapsulate a mood - a notion. - Fat Amp Music


"Honorable Mention The Best Albums of 2006"

The Oxygen Ponies have been given an honorable mention nod as The Best Albums of 2006 along with Bob Dylan, Joseph Artur, Joanna Newsome, The Flaming Lips, Rober Pollard and Mark Kozelek! - Raindogs Rant's blogsite


"Minor Chord Folk/Pop For the End Credits"

"Paul Megna's debut has quite a back-story to live up to: He was taught guitar by Jeff Buckley and played Kurt Cobain in an off-broadway show. As leader of Boston's [Brooklyn's actually] Oxygen Ponies, Megna makes minor-chord folk/pop for the end credits, a dozen songs delivered in a raspy voice that sounds broken beyond repair."
- Magnet Magazine No. 74 Jan/Feb 2007


Discography

The Oxygen Ponies (2006 Egret Records/Oxpo Recording Company)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Paul Megna was taught how to play guitar by his friend, Jeff Buckley - after being shot in the neck by a sniper in Hell's Kitchen in 1994. His misfortune was covered on Page Six of the New York Post under the caption "Bullets over Broadway". A playwright saw the write-up, contacted Paul in the hospital and offered him the lead in the production of "Coffee with Kurt Cobain". Upon recovery, Paul bought a cheap black Fender guitar and asked Jeff to show him how to play it authentically - because he had never held a guitar before and needed to learn quickly.

Paul perfected his unique songwriting style and odd finger-picking technique during a seven month sabbatical to Sag Harbor, after thwarting his girlfriend of three years’ suicide attempt. By day, he worked as a pig nanny. Late at night, in an old abandoned barn, he would practice his 'sleepy bedroom’ pop songs over and over until they were memorized and then record them into an answering machine because he didn't know how to jot them down and was afraid he'd forget them. "At the time it was cathartic. I had no intention of ever playing them for anyone. I just felt like I had something to say." These 'answering machine tapes' became the basis for the songs on The Oxygen Ponies and you can feel the emptiness haunting the air from the moment you hear the incurable loneliness in Megna's world weary voice.

But it wasn't until last year, when Paul found himself sitting alone, staring at the walls of his empty Hell's Kitchen apartment; after ending his five year relationship a few months before the scheduled wedding, that he decided to record at Don Piper’s ‘Between the Trains Studio’ (Guster, The Lilys, Sam Champion) and make the record he’d always been hesitant to make. "As much as I loved writing songs, I still thought of myself as an actor. I was reluctant to commit them to record, but I knew I had to. They were all I had left." Together they assembled an incredible cast of local musicians and blended them into a cohesive unit to flesh out The Oxygen Ponies powerful compositions. The line-up included: Paul, Don (A Don Piper Situation, Syd Straw), Steve Salad (King of France) on baritone guitar, David Roland on electric guitar, Konrad Meissner (Girl Friday, The Silos) on drums, Matt Durant (Rana) on piano, Len Small (Koester) on bass, Matt Horn (A D.P. Situation) on clarinet and organ and Ray Sapirstein (A D.P. Situation) on trumpet.

Rife with wistful melodies, melancholy lyrics and carefully woven, inexplicably uplifting aspects The Oxygen Ponies is a 'Blood on the Tracks' for the Blog Generation - blending the honesty of Leonard Cohen, the swagger of John Cale and the intimacy of Elliott Smith into an original soundscape which is as captivating as the story of the artist himself. The bullet still resides in Paul's neck, centimeters from his jugular - and reverberates throughout the twelve songs on the debut, which serves as a testament to survival.

2006 Egret Records/The Oxpo Recording Company