THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2010 #20 - New Young Pony Club: The Optimist

THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2010
#20 - New Young Pony Club: The Optimist

Words by Dirk Calloway

Let's start the 2010 Top 20 Albums as I intend to end it: a wall of synths, a thumping bass riff, unrelenting snare beats and breathless vocals. Every day from this point forwards I will upload a new review of one of last year's best albums. We're going to start at #20 and work our way up to #1, handily ignoring albums #21 through #81. You read that right, I've listened to 81 records from 2010 and have gone to some amount of effort to rank them in preferential order. Some of them were obviously headed for the bottom of the pile (Santana covers Deep Purple anyone? What about Maroon 5's latest effort at staving off the inevitable C-rate celebrity status?) while others were obvious stand-outs from the moment they were purchased.

But the focus of today is going to be The Optimist by New Young Pony Club. This is their second release, following a good debut effort called Fantastic Playroom from a few years ago. Apparently they self-produced this one, and its immediately clear they went to great lengths to make it sound exactly how they wanted it to. The first track is a slow simmer that reaches a climax with total silence. NYPC achieve this by building up a dense and atmospheric soundscape, then cutting it completely. You'll be amazed at how effective the absence of sound is when you're midway through a tune. After leaving the listener with a moment to breathe... the Club burst back into the track, but they shed it of its previous reverb so you've got a clean pop groove again. It's as if they're telling you, "beware of labelling us, 'cause we've got a few tricks up our sleeve."

The CD cover perfectly sums up the sound the band's gone for. It's dark enough to appeal to indie rockers, but there's enough rays of light on each track to keep mainstream radio interested too. Put it this way - the band has been touring with Katy Perry. They're very much like her more cynical cousin, born to the alternative Aunty that eats organic food and abstains from burgers. If the sound could be summarised in a hairstyle, it would surely be the "side pony," what with its erratic bounciness and temptation to swing over a straight beat. Check out their music video for a feel of who they are:

So what is it about The Optimist that places it above 60 or so others from 2010? The answer to that question is the unwavering consistency the band sticks to. I've listened to the record many times, in different situations, and it always plays the same. I hope you understand what I mean: in a car, on my iPod, in the CD player, blaring out of my PC speakers, embedded in a mix-tape, on GrooveShark or turning up on shuffle... each track is consistently its own entity, regardless of the media I'm using to consume it. That's quite rare these days. There are some albums I can only listen to with headphones on, while there are others I wouldn't dare touch before 12pm. This is not one of those CDs: it's always the same listen, at any point in the day. And I value that.

At 45 minutes in length, it's not a short listen. Each song is around about 4 minutes too, so they're not "onto the next A-side" tracks either. Nope, this is an album delivered at the band's chosen pace, and it's all the better for it. Cracking stuff, especially if you're a synth-pop fan. If you're not, well, this record probably won't change that, but at least you'll respect a sophomore effort that is effortless and disarming.

Tune in tomorrow for a review of an Indie Rock band who are named after an eating utensil.... then tune in every day after that for more reviews of the Top 20 Albums Of The Year!