Think Like A Key 2025
Pony Tales
Willing wonder into wanderlust on their sixth platter, American dreamers fall through earth to land in the past and hope the trip will not last.
One would think his latter-day dusting-off of THE SHIRTS’ cache of archival recordings might make Arthur Lamonica delay the release of a sequel to 2024’s "Paradise Is Free" that saw the veteran mine a rich pop-rock vein with a vim which much younger artists might envy, yet it didn’t take ROME 56 too long to take the pun and fun of “Pony Tales” to the public. This time, however, the New York collective move their wares towards wider stylistic scope, but at the same time endow the album, wrapped in a pseudo-medieval artwork, with a scent of sweet nostalgia, as melodies and lyrics seem to conspire to evoke stranger, if not stronger, feelings in the listener. Still, playing with the audience’s perception has been the ensemble’s forte from the start.
As has the habit of launching a record with a piece that grabs the bull by the horns – or horse by the tail – and indeed, the resonant rumble of “One Way Ticket” is irresistible, contrasting the harmonic vibe which deceptively repetitive verses propel into dry refrain and drive home in rather delicate manner. Yet while some of the songs’ protagonists are referred to via pronouns, and “Ladder Of Love” offers first-person intimacy, it’s the ’60s-rooted “Sam The Delivery Man” that will properly name its hero, spread its psychedelic immediacy across the room and engage everyone in the vicinity in a singalong, but not before the handclaps of “In The City” prove to be almost as infectious. And though they help rid “The Last Man Standing” of hilarious sorrow, the fiddle-flaunting “Hot August Night” quite seriously forays into sweaty, fatigued country balladry.
Elsewhere, the riff-scratching “Shut Down Town” rolls in a boisterous fashion, a purring Farfisa informing the track’s flow with slight otherworldliness until bass and drums are bared to rule the game for a bit, and “Diamond” turns bluegrass groove into a brisk, exciting number, yet “Five Mistakes” brings back the celebratory, communal spirit to sculpt a perfect, heartwarming finale. “Pony Tales” is a platter to follow and cherish.
****2/3
