Pony Pony Run Run - Voyage Voyage

Pony Pony Run Run
Voyage Voyage
2016
Spotify

Having been around since 2003 it is surprising that Voyage Voyage is only the second album from French Power Pop band Pony Pony Run Run. Fans of the band usually span the distance of true indie diehards and teens in love with the light sound. Don't ever get it wrong though nothing about Pony Pony Run Run is anything but straight up pop. The songs are often clawingly sweet with just enough synth to keep them somewhat in the indie realm. They aren't really making fun of pop either like HOLY CHILD, instead they seem to be all in. It is all very...well... European. "Took you by surprise/the price your supposed to pay" is the line that is repeated at the beginning of "Alright" and it feels so off that the fact that the song actually sounds pretty good is hard to overcome. Where a genre like K-Pop is also intensely sweet it somehow feels much more earnest than this. It is not until the fifth song "You Don't Feel It" that you actually get something with some substance. This song falls more on the electropop side of things and has a really interesting arrangement. This is the kind of song you want when trying to harness that synthy 80s sound, and it does work. "Belong" is probably the best track on the record and for sure has a much more indie sound and a message that isn't sugar covered.

These bright moments however are quite fleeting with "Berlin" bringing us right back around to pedestrian power pop. One of the major issues with Voyage Voyage however is just how boring it is. There are maybe two points while listening where I said: "oh this is pretty good" and for a full album that is not very good at all. There are almost zero risks taken throughout, almost like Owl City but without that catchiness that made him so huge. The overblown "Dum Dum" which almost feels like they expected it to be a hit has damn near every instrument in history included in it and the mix is never dialed in just right and the song is so very repetitive that you hear the exact line of music over and over again.The Disco inspired "Victoria" lacks almost any low end despite having an affected bass line and the only somewhat fun part is the chorus. I guess from the name of the band and the title of the able We should expect some repetitive parts, but I was woefully under prepared just how many times Pony Pony Run Run would repeat lines and music. The record ends with a thud in the song "Always the Same" not really doing anything to pull the album back around. Life is just to short to listen to bad music, and unfortunately Voyage Voyage is bad.

3.1 out of 10