With the breadth of folkie indie pop that's floating around out there, it's easy to dismiss any artist who falls into the genre as being not worth your time. It's easy, and it's a mistake, a case which is easily proved by one listen to Motopony's self-titled full length debut.
At first listen the disc has the potential to fall into every pitfall of the recent indie-folk trend: too sweet melodies, gentle acoustic guitars, and delicate percussives. However, the cliché quickly falls away as one is presented with arrangements of growing complexity, and progressively more ragged textures. As the record continues, the percussives take on an electronic feel despite their analog origins, and the fuzzed out bass adds grit to the record's sweetness.
And yet, none of this robs the record of its folkie foundation. In fact, it serves to strengthen it as being a record that has all the insights and possibilities of classic tradition, but encapsulates them in modernity. Motopony have already had a fair bit of attention in their native Seattle, and we can understand why. After one listen, we were ready to play again.
Motopony are at Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night, Wednesday October 19th.
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