The Optimist

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Album Information

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 45:27

eMusic Review 0

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Peter Shapiro

eMusic Contributor

04.05.10
Dark, world-weary tales that channel Siouxsie Sioux and James Murphy
2010 | Label: The Numbers / PIAS Digital

On their debut album, 2007's Fantastic Playroom, London quintet New Young Pony Club — with their combination of jaded hipster sexuality and Duran Duran sheen — sounded just a little bit too hip, too calculated, too much like a lifestyle marketer's wet dream. A more mature and considered, if less immediately exciting, album, The Optimist certainly shares its predecessor's predilection for the post-punk '80s (the Peter Hook basslines on "Lost A Girl" and "Oh Cherie", the early Simple Minds sprawl of the title track), but without the gloss and knowing insouciance and with more emotional depth. Lead singer Tahita Bulmer has found the perfect middle ground between the coy, cynical come-ons of NYPC's debut and the ice queen poses of her New Romantic forbears. Bulmer intones these dark, world-weary tales of loss in a voice that is a weird but wonderful amalgam of Siouxsie Sioux and James Murphy. The music has similarly transformed itself from day-glo synth pastiche to taut but dense tracks full of dark Teutonic menace. You won't be hearing tracks from The Optimist on every other advert like last time around, but you'll be spending a lot more quality time with it.

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They Say All Music Guide

By the time New Young Pony Club’s second album, The Optimist, finally hit retailers in 2010, some pretty drastic changes had occurred. The band was no longer with Modular Records, it was basically down to a duo of vocalist Tahita Bulmer and multi-instrumentalist Andy Spence (though drummer Sarah Jones and keyboardist Lou Hayter do make cameo appearances), and most importantly, the adolescent swagger and goofiness of early songs like “Ice Cream” and “Jerk Me” had been replaced with a more subdued and adult feel. There is still plenty of spunk and snarl in Bulmer’s vocals, lots of angular funk in the rhythms, and more than enough hooks to go around, only this time there is a slick, studio-generated sheen on top of everything. Instead of the ESG influence that permeated Fantastic Playroom, perhaps a better reference this time would be Altered Images. And while they still channel Gang of Four at times, it’s more like late-period Gang of Four. This kind of retrenchment quite often spells doom for a band, with a tragically blanding out of its sound, removing the vital heart and inspiration that made it worth listening to in the first place. While a few NYPC fans who really loved “Ice Cream” might find The Optimist too smooth and a little studied at times, most people who hear the record will be won over by the high quality of the songs, Bulmer’s still captivating persona, and the tracks that have some of Fantastic Playroom’s dancefloor drive (like “We Want To” and “Chaos”) and sass (“Lost a Girl”). NYPC’s surprisingly light touch on the couple of ballads (“Stone,” “Architect of Love”) they drop in the mix is also a strong selling point, and shows a level of depth that was missing in the past. It might have been nice if some of the wobbly giddiness of their previous work had transferred over to The Optimist, but it’s clear that the band is a different entity now, with a slightly darker outlook on life. They could have totally botched the transition from happy party kids to grownups; instead, they managed the switch quite masterfully. The Optimist won’t make anyone forget Fantastic Playroom, but it does work as a nice complement and shows that the group may have some staying power. – Tim Sendra

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