Dead Pony : "Ignore This"

Pop music and rock music have been merging more in recent years. This Scottish band does so to the extent of bands like Holy Wars or Poppy. Though these Scotts are perhaps a little more fun-loving and less angsty in their expression of this. Nu-metal helped open the doors for this sort of thing as Linkin Park was a boy band with guitars, and Limp Bizkit's Peak found them rubbing elbows with Carson Daily on a regular. It certainly is this band's strength, when they do rock out their singer's voice puts her in close company with 90s bands like Veruca Salt as she packs more sugar than spice. The guitars are mixed with more mid-range than metal, and the overall mix holds more common ground with pop than packing a punch. 

The guitars get a slight boost going into "About Love" before ebbing down to give the vocals more room for introspection. This song also retains the 90s feel heard in the previous song. Their guitarist seems to take over the mic for interludes, and the occasional intro. His voice is much less interesting than Anna's. "Cobra"  has a more upbeat bounce, it sounds like most of the crunch it lacks is a production choice, as I can hear where this might rock out more live. The post-production choices on the vocals are where this producer's true talents lie as it is an area where this album shines. "Mana" maintains their high energy style, with the guitars giving her vocals plenty of room to do their thing. They are successful in tapping into a fountain of youth to channel their inner teenagers. 

"I might die" is a power ballad with a touch of grunge. Her vocal harmonies are the song's strong point."Rainbows" is proof, that I can like music that is not all that dark. It works as a fun pop song just fine. There is more sex injected into the attitude of "Bad Girlfriend" though the chorus of "X-Rated" is more infectious. Her girl crush anthem is pretty cute and marketable. There is less charm to the more filler feel of "White Rabbit", which feels like it's ground we have already covered. "Faces on the Wall" circles the same drain. It's not bad just more of the same. I will give this album a 9, it's fun and works for what they are doing, not the hardest rocking album of the year, but plenty of fun. 

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