Album Review: Pony Face - Hypnotised

Hypnotised is the second studio album from Melbourne three-piece post-punk/psychedelic outfit Pony Face, following up from their successful 2010 debut, Stars Are Bright. With only nine tracks racking up a time of just over 40 minutes, it's by no means a long album, but it does take you on a journey – an interesting one to say the least.

Hypnotised opens with single, Silver Tongue, which sees Simon Bailey croon and groan on about the morning after over lo-fi, spaced-out drum machine beats and surging guitar riffs. Howdy Moon follows, drenched in fuzzy guitar, which weaves an intricate web of sound, exploring a desolate and lonely soundscape. Bailey's voice reaches soaring heights, breaking into wolf-like howls wrought with emotion and feeling. Inspired by a woman's road trip on acid, Disco Cops dives into someplace dark, dire and inhospitable with its grungy guitars. Needless to say then, it's perfectly suited for drives to nowhere in the middle of the night. Title track, Hypnotised, follows with a more mellow, melancholic tone, constructed from rich and layered textures of sound. Bailey belts out “I was hypnotised, fucking hypnotised” with so much angst and misery, he threatens to shred your very heart to pieces. Wrapping up the album is Stripper, again a dark track, led by a brooding and menacing bass line over which Bailey echoes, “I love you so much.”

Hypnotised is very much an instrumentally-driven album; the fuzzy guitars, roomy drums and pounding bass lines all make for a dark, eerie listen. While it's a tightly produced album, there are few standout tracks, but saying that those few tracks are thoroughly gripping.