The wild trill Molly Siegel lets loose at the beginning of "Beg Waves" lets listeners know that
Ice Cream Spiritual! is unmistakably a
Ponytail album, even if it's more neatly groomed than their debut was.
Kamehameha introduced the band's highly concentrated, highly combustible noise-punk-pop in saturated outbursts; it sounded like someone threw a few mikes into the fray and then got out of the way of the band's blazing onslaughts.
Ice Cream Spiritual! sounds much more produced and premeditated, and its songs are longer and maybe a touch more involved, but none of this halts
Ponytail's sugar-buzz energy -- if anything, the album's clarity gives a better idea of just how big the band's sound can be than
Kamehameha did. "Late for School"'s joyous guitar flurries and the noise-surf of "7 Souls" breeze by like lost songs from
Ponytail's first album, but "G Shock" -- which features fancy fretwork that sounds like sped-up funk, massive drums, and Siegel's vocalizations (which sound a little like an avant-garde cheerleader cheering the rest of the band on to wilder and faster musical feats) -- swells up, explodes, and drifts away like a cloudburst.
Ice Cream Spiritual!'s longer tracks push
Ponytail closer to the expansive territory of bands like
OOIOO, though
Ponytail's music is still more rock-based. Once their songs pass the four-minute mark, their energy becomes hypnotic instead of spastic. "Celebrate the Body Electric" runs the spectrum of
Ponytail's prettiest and noisiest sounds, but its shimmering guitars give it a desert rock trippiness; "Die Allman Bruder" channels, yes,
the Allman Brothers via
Sonic Youth and
Deerhoof. At times, the album's extended jams get a bit wearing, but
Ice Cream Spiritual! shows that
Ponytail's music is still equal parts challenging, melodic, and fun. ~ Heather Phares