PONY – Velveteen | Album Review
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Take This To Heart Records
There are some experiences of the “CD Era” that just haven’t been replicated by the vinyl boom. Like the feeling of digging through a $1 CD bin at a record or thrift store and discovering the coolest fucking thing you’ve ever heard. Sure, there are $1 vinyl bins too, but it’s pretty rare you’ll find an alternative gem like Frente’s Marvin The Album or Radish’s Restraining Bolt amongst the Pat Boone and Mitch Miller. Maybe that was how you discovered Come On Feel The Lemonheads, and you hearing “Into Your Arms” immediately reminded you of your longtime crush. Maybe you make them a mix CD and use it as the opening track, followed by “Hey Jealousy” and “One Headlight.” Maybe I’m revealing too much about myself. It’s that sense of being in on some musical secret you want to share with someone special, the feeling of complete effervescence, and the feeling of falling in love for the very first time. That’s what it’s like listening to Velveteen, the sophomore album by Canadian rock trio PONY.
I’ve been following the Toronto band since their 2017 EP Do You, a succinct selection of emotional alt-rock made instantly personable by singer-songwriter Sam Bielanski. After a smattering of singles, including a cover of Robbie Hart’s proto-fourth-wave classic “Somebody Kill Me Please,” the band’s debut album TV Baby landed in 2021. This release was a clear step up, a more fully realized project anchored by catchy singles like “Chokecherry” and “Couch.” The album also cemented PONY’s core lineup of Bielanski and now-partner Matty Morand, who plays bass for the group and has previous credits with Self Defense Family and Lychi. While I enjoyed TV Baby enough, I was patiently anticipating a follow-up that would pack even more of a sticky-sweet punch. Velveteen is far more than I could have asked for, absolutely skyrocketing the band to guitar-pop perfection.
I think of albums like Bark Your Head Off, Dog by Hop Along, or Mood Ring by Kississippi in the same context as Velveteen. All three are standout voices of emo and indie rock that built off the formula from their previous album and found the uppermost echelon it could reach. This isn’t to say that I think Frances Quinlan, Zoe Allaire Reynolds, or Sam Bielanski “sold out” or purposefully delivered a more accessible project, but there’s a notable increase of energy and yearning on all three of these albums that eclipses their predecessors. On Velveteen, that energy is introduced without any reservations on album opener “Très Jolie,” its guitar intro is unavoidably attention-grabbing before Bielanski begins the first verse. “Do you ever picture us together? Standing beneath the glitter in the sky.” Then, the beautifully simple chorus: “I wanna kiss you. I wanna make you mine. I wanna lie to you and say that I am fine.” It’s a statement of intent not open to interpretation, the first of ten top-notch pop-rockers.
Those blissful and sugary hooks don’t let up anytime soon. “Peach” follows suit with a Mandy Moore-meets-Green Day attitude. “Picturing the salt of the beach, ‘cause I don’t want to drown in the taste of this peach.” My personal favorite on the album is “Sick,” a song that should be the biggest hit of the Summer in every major market. It’s another sensational power pop anthem that delivers guitar power and bubblegum pop equally. The electronic tinges in the production remind me of recent releases from Crushed and Hatchie, both artists who have been riding the line of ‘90s-influenced alt and pop perfectly. If a remake of 10 Things I Hate About You is in the works, this song should be a shoo-in for the credits, with PONY playing Letters To Cleo.
In Velveteen’s 35 minutes, not one of the ten songs fails to get stuck in your head for at least a little while. Like the bright landscape of “Sucker Punch” or the dreamy fuzz of “Haunted House.” If I had unearthed this record from a shop’s clearance bin, “Who’s Calling” would have been the centerpiece for my heartfelt mix CD roster; a song that channels the desire of calling your love interest but being too scared to say something. With lyrics like “Are you home all alone thinking about me? Wondering why the phone keeps ringing?” and “Can you tell that it’s me by the way that I breathe?” So far, it’s now 2023’s second great Canadian indie rock song that I’ve reviewed about reminiscing on phone calls after “Telephone” by Andy Shauf.
It’s almost overwhelming how great every track here is, making it extremely difficult to say anything other than “a perfect pop song” about each of them. When the second side of an album is just as strong as the first, filled with sharp cuts like “Did It Again” and “Sunny Rose,” it’s simply a testament to Bielanski and Morand’s compositional chops. Morand leads a project of his own called Pretty Matty, whose 2019 self-titled album (and recently released Heavenly Sweetheart) could fit right in rotation with Velveteen. It’s clear that their shared musical loves contribute to their strong personal chemistry.
“French Class” is the one notable moment of deviation, but it doesn’t feel out of place at all. The mostly electronic-led track is a longing ballad, describing someone who “will never be mine, my heart breaks with every breath they take.” The music video is a composite of various lo-fi footage, enhancing the affection of its narrator from afar.
I still purchase physical media whenever I can, but there’s one crucial element of music streaming that echoes CD collecting in a big way. Everyone who’s had a car with a CD player has experienced leaving the same disc inside of it for days, maybe even weeks, without changing it. Letting it go from the last track of an album right back to the first, an endless loop of excitement and obsession as you drive around. Thankfully, most digital streaming platforms have an “album repeat” button that has the same effect, and Velveteen is the poster child for the feature. From the final moments of “Haircut,” it seems required to start the whole album over and listen again. Considering you could fit two full runs of the LP on one CD if you wanted to, and with how addictive every song is, it makes cycling through Velveteen multiple times a no-brainer.
PONY has consistently released difficult-to-deny pop bangers since their inception, but it’s with Velveteen that they reached a monolithic height in the form of a second album. It’s impossible to listen to this thing without having a smile on my face every time, embarrassingly bobbing my head and sliding across my worksite floor throughout the entire runtime. For anyone as in love with ‘90s alternative as I am, you absolutely cannot miss this one. It’s appropriately nostalgic while still undeniably current, wearing its influences on its sleeve while not being fully reliant on them. Velveteen is an album destined to begin again, poised for North American superstardom, and a perfect soundtrack for heart eyes and butterfly stomachs.
Logan Archer Mounts once almost got kicked out of Warped Tour for doing the Disturbed scream during a band’s acoustic set. He currently lives in Rolling Meadows, IL, but tells everyone he lives in Palatine.
