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(Valve Records/Warner)
Brisbane-based electronic trio Ponyloaf’s (aka Damien Lewis, Daniel Templeman and ex-Regurgitator keyboardist Shane Rudken) debut EP ‘Epic Travels’ was one of the locally-produced delights of 2002, with skittering IDM rhythms and icy synth tones similar to Plaid or Boards Of Canada pushed distinctly towards song-oriented hooks that even had some listeners making comparisons to the likes of The Cure. ‘O Complex’ is Ponyloaf’s long-awaited debut full-length album, and sees the trio following a similar approach to the one followed when writing and recording the EP, hunkering down with noted producer/engineer Magoo (Regurgitator, Resin Dogs, Midnight Oil) in his Black Box Recording Studios in sunny Brisbane.
Opening track ‘Why Breed Pt.1’ immediately shows that with this debut album, Ponyloaf have chosen to take the sonic approach employed on ‘Epic Travels’ even further, honing their dream-like soft focus electronic landscapes down to even greater levels of precision and detail. Slowly fading in on spectral-sounding icy synth drones, a crunching AFX-style drum loop decelerates down into a slamming breakbeat that crashes and skitters its way over an epic backdrop of glacial synths that slide and careen their way through spy-movie esque dramatic orchestral hits – just when you think you’ve got the manic and hyper-dextrous timestretching and grinding beats sussed, along comes some hyper-treated screaming electric guitar and fretwork acrobatics and throws the whole equation right out of the window.
‘Junkie Knights’ leans closer to electro-pop, with heavily vocoded lyrics sliding their way over ringing synth tones, industrial-sounding crunches and clangs, whilst the whole track accelerates forward in a blur of digitally-processed guitar and skittering breakbeats, before a groovy icy electro-funk breakdown takes things towards their conclusion, while ‘Aargh’s Townhouse’ leaps forward from tentatively-pressed buzzing synth tones and fluttering beats into one of this album’s most fiercely rock-tinged moments, with overdriven guitar and synths rifferama powering its way over rock drummer-influenced programmed breaks. ‘Classique’ ventures into glacial ambience, with cold piano notes echoing over a twinkling backdrop of synthetic drones before clicking IDM breakbeats begin to plod forward around foreboding bass tones, crisp snares flickering and fluttering back and forth at hyper-accelerated speed, before ‘Lost Heartache’ brings back the vocoder in one of this album’s more New Wave pop-infused moments, with spinning synth patterns powering their way over furious rattling breakbeats – think a drastically more sped-up, breaks-tinged version of Cut Copy, and you’re getting close.
‘Neopolatarn’ shifts from slow keyboard tones and skeletal electro snares and toms, into icy vocoders that soon descend alongside buzzing digitally-processed synths into vast echoing dubbed-out beats that sound like they could have been sourced from a live drummer, leading into ‘Hit Pik’, a collaboration with Letea Cavander which turns the levels of complex programming up to incredible levels of detail, with countless layers of hyper-precise Autechre-esque glitchy rhythms, textures and timestretching orbiting a core of blurred-out melancholy synth pads and overdriven chords. ‘Nkaeke’ meanwhile slowly enters amidst drones that sound like the vast yawn of space, before childlike twinkling bells trace their way across a backdrop of sparse beats and stuttering ambient tones, random glitches and buzzes adding a slight element of impending danger to the otherwise gently blissed-out tones, before ‘People Change’ veers back towards breakbeat-fuelled New Wave pop-tinged electro rhythms, with a melancholy vocoded chorus refrain of “People change / easily” riding over shimmering synths and stamping mechanical beat programming. Finally, ‘Why Breed Pt.2’ brings this album to a melancholy introspective close, with lushly reverbed-out piano cascades rolling their way over a rich carpet of droning synths.
‘O Complex’ is a stunning debut album from Ponyloaf that shows the Brisbane trio fulfilling on the promise they hinted at on their 2002 ‘Epic Travels’, and shows them honing their own distinctive mash of influences to create a sound that sounds truly unlike any other Australian electronic outfit right now – not quite Warp Records-esque IDM, shoegazer rock or new-school breaks, but a rather fresh and unpredictable hybrid of all of the above. Something very interesting is definitely going on here, and fans of likes of Plaid, Boards Of Canada and Sydney new-wave fusionists Cut Copy should most definitely check ‘O Complex’ out post haste. I also can’t sign off without giving a shoutout to local design legends Rinzen, who’ve done a bang-up job with the sleeve art once again. Highly recommended
Check out http://www.ponyloaf.com.au.
