My Little Pony

As a music fan, sometimes I think I take the art too seriously. It’s easy to put In The Aeroplane Over The Sea on repeat for hours and even easier to turn my nose up at any music that involves hooks or a vocalist who knows how to sing in key. I mean, I am far from pretentious, but I sometimes feel like I’ve lost sight of why I became so interested in music in the first place. Musically speaking…I think that I think too much.

Based on the title of My Little Pony’s debut album, …Think Too Much, this is a problem that plagues the Norwegian five-piece as well. Thankfully, they’ve pulled themselves out of that hole and have passed on the cure to us still stuck down below. What’s the antidote, you ask? Pure pop bliss. From the moment that opener “Skipping Down The Street” begins, and a giddy combo of keyboards, bells, upbeat guitars, and male/female vocal harmonies hits your ears, you won’t want to go back to the new Deerhunter album any time soon. “A Song For You” opens up with a waltzy piano ditty, and after a short while, grows to include clarinets, trumpets, and trombones. As the vocalist lisps his way through a Beatles namedrop, and the horns swirl in and out, it becomes increasingly obvious that the band enjoys Sgt. Pepper just as much as I do.

“Comic Relief” is probably the most effective song on the album. It starts out like the first two songs: silly. “In a television show from the crazy Wild, Wild West/one of the characters stands out from the rest/cause he’s bald/always friendly/and sometimes comes late/and the others always tell him he’s slightly overweight.” The song goes on to state that even though he wouldn’t have an answer when asked about “a motif or religious belief,” he’s an important part of the show – he’s the comic relief. The band eventually displays a more introspective, serious side, when the lead singer comes to the realization that he has to bear the cross of being like the old, fat guy, or the “foreign exchange student who never gets a chick” in providing the world with someone to laugh at. While he accepts that it is necessary in this world to have comic relief, he doesn’t sound all too convinced that he wants to actually be the comic relief.

Backup vocalist Ola Innset takes center stage for the humorously titled “Do You Really Love Me, Or Am I Just In Your Network?” which, like “Comic Relief” balances the serious and the silly. As for Ola herself, is her voice strong enough to be the center of attention for three minutes? Maybe not, but it doesn’t detract from the song too badly. My Little Pony also conveys its desire to extend beyond the typical guitar/drums/keyboard/vocals setting, successfully incorporating a wood block solo (“I Don’t Know, pt. 2?), a harmonica (“West Wing”), finger snaps (“The Sunshine Goodtime Song”), and a banjo (“MacGyver Blues”).

My Little Pony may put you off before you even listen, on account of its name. But I assure you, this record is more than worth a listen. I would dish this out as a recommendation to anybody – whether you’re hungry for a feel-good pop record, or if solemn indie is more your flavor, this record will charm its way onto your end-of-the-year lists. Guaranteed.

“In a time, in a town where the Beatles were around
Your parents made love without making a sound
Sgt. Pepper said ‘Hey, come a-see my band play!
I’ll put you on the list so you won’t have to pay’
That was the first sound you heard
A slide trombone and lead saxophone”

John Spencer - Sun On The Sand (US)

La banda de Oslo debuta con brillantez en Granada

EDUARDO TÉBAR

El quinteto noruego My Little Pony atrajo a una notable asistencia a la sala Planta Baja para tratarse de una noche de martes. Y más si se tiene en cuenta la escasísima difusión del concierto organizado por los responsables de Loop Bar & Records, la tasca y tienda de vinilos de la calle San Matías. El público acudió por curiosidad, seducido por el rótulo del mejor grupo europeo del último año, según los premios Pop-Eye.

La sorpresa se consumó en el tú a tú con la banda. Imberbes, angelicales y con expresión de efebos candorosos, a los componentes de My Little Pony apenas les echaban 17 tacos. Aunque poco importaba la edad a tenor del oficio que rezuman sus canciones. Increíble pero cierto: suenan a lo que otros intentan en vano durante más de tres lustros. Preciosistas, maduros e ilustrados en composición y arreglos.

Su folk-pop se nutre de los traqueteos sureños de los Byrds de Roger McGuinn, así como de las radiaciones orquestales de Belle & Sebastian. Con tendencia al esquematismo y una insólita pericia en los textos. Cuidado, que hasta lanzan críticas veladas a la energía nuclear. Y en un perfecto español. El cantante, guitarrista y teclista (llegó incluso a tocar el ukelele) Simen Herning ejerció de maestro de ceremonias sin ambages comunicativos. Al final, uno se quedaba envidiando el funcionamiento de la ESO nórdica. - La Opinión de Granada (Spain)

Norway indie pop quintet My Little Pony knows that it totally screwed itself on Googlability. After all these years, those plastic pink horsies still reign supreme on the search engines. (Seriously, they still sell those things?)

Which is why the band My Little Pony’s websites all come with the phrase “The band, not the brand.” But they’re set on the name, they told Bedroomdisco, because it’s probably the least cool band name on earth, besides maybe Coca Cola.

Too bad they don’t play death metal or something. Their uncool points would be staggering!

But My Little Pony plays upbeat, lovely soulful indie pop. Think Belle & Sebastian sprinkled with Motown, jazz, and far more instruments, including the banjo, classical strings, brass and the glockenspiel. What keeps My Little Pony an indie pop band as we know it is frontman Ola Insett’s serene, Paul Simon-esque voice.

Their new single “Hard To Be Good,” coming out Oct. 4, has plenty of the above, along with a video of an old man in some kind of a scary party gym. The band has already released an EP and an album, but maybe “Hard to Be Good” is part of a larger project?

And check out their website; one of my favorites is their renegade single “Do You Really Love Me.” A lady sings on this purely folk track with the whimsical, adorable lyrics: “Your love is like nuclear energy/it leaves a lot of stuff I don’t know what to do with/Do you really love me or am I just in your network/he knows a lot of girls and one of them is his girlfriend.” - MTV Iggy (UK & Ireland)