eMusic Review 0
The downside of arriving in the midst of a good old-fashioned youthquake, as New Young Pony Club did during the fluorescent tie-dye brouhaha known as “nu rave” back in 2006, is that you tend to get lost once the dust has settled. Seven years on, they’ve slimmed down from five members to a duo of Tahita Bulmer and Andy Spence and shortened their name to NYPC. How do they stand up now that sounding a bit ’80s is no longer a daring retro move as much as it is the dominant sound of conventional pop?
Pretty well, actually. Previous albums Fantastic Playroom (2007) and The Optimist (2010) suffered from a certain fastidiousness and a lack of variation — in their band incarnation they were always more detached no-wave than ecstatic nu rave. NYPC loosens up considerably and throws itself into the electronics that were only a backdrop to its predecessors. The sound is richer, the moods more varied, folding in elation and openness as well as austerity, and the result is their most appealing and singular release yet.
The ups and downs of a draining career seem to have toughened them up and made them both braver and more perceptive. “You Used… read more »
