New Ponytail - "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)"

Download: Ponytail - "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel"

Ponytail are a quartet from Baltimore who travel in the same circles as experimental multi-culti melodists Yeasayer and droney soundscapers Indian Jewelry. This fact should come as no surprise, seeing as all three of these bands are on We Are Free, the Yeasayer family imprint. So where do Ponytail fit in?

The band--who are often compared to Deerhoof, which, based on this song, is partially valid--are the energetic, youthful, punk and pop (but not punk-pop) influenced band who specialize in making sonic digressions. There's many of those--hence the Deerhoof comparison--in "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)", the Walt Whitman-biting first single from the band's forthcoming second album Ice Cream Spiritual.

Once June 17th rolls around, you'll be able to determine how an entire album's worth of that spastic, sugary approach works--but, based on how gloriously epic this seven-minute (patience, young Skywalker) sounds, as well as the reception to the band's previous work, I'd say that Ponytail has nothing to worry about; this is awesome.

Ice Cream Spiritual is out June 20th.

Ponytail MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)