Pony Up!

Sometimes that old proverb really rings true; girls just wanna have fun. If you doubt it, check out this self-titled EP by Montreal’s answer to the Organ and Plumtree, Pony Up! Their cutesy, sort of brash songs did enough to catch Aussie songwriter Ben Lee’s ear, who promptly made them the first act on his new Ten Fingers label. They even split a seven-inch, which features their first song, "Hear You Got Action.” Horny girl talk is the order of the day on cleverly composed songs like "Shut Up and Kiss Me” and the infectious "Matthew Modine.” You’ll want to hate the latter but it’s hard to resist a paean to an actor where a quintet of young women insist they’ll be his "blow job queens” because he "fucking rules.” If it sounds lame, there are plenty of cool moments here as well, such as "Minstrel,” which sounds like a lightweight Sleater-Kinney and the genuinely romantic "Marlon Brando’s Laundromat.” Engineer Howard Billerman gives Pony Up!’s sugary pop some real guts, which is fortunate because, in the wrong hands, the dynamic shifts of songs like "Swans” might have been bungled. Instead, this self-titled EP presents Pony Up! as group of self-aware, assertive young women effectively playing some fun pop music.