A little bit of Berlin, a little bit of Ireland and a whole lot of Brooklyn. Brooklyn-based Ponyhof releases first single ”Empires” off the upcoming album with the same title.
After having spent a few years in Europe, Carrie Erving decided to return to her roots and settle down in Brooklyn where she gave birth to musical collective Ponyhof. The German expression ”Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof” (Life is no pony farm) has lent the name to her moniker. The expression means as much as “conditions are less than ideal” – a saying many aspiring musicians can apply to their lives.
The album is a mix of many musical influences and Erving manages to incorporate a number of different genres, even though it mainly falls under electronic pop. The Irish heritage has left a mark on Erving’s vocals, with hints of hard-not-to-mention Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, whereas comparable contemporary musical acts would be Austra or Zola Jesus, just with a slightly bigger portion of pop. Erving’s voice combined with analog synthesizers and analog drums, a sound typical for many Berlin-based musicians, is the base of Empires’ ambitious sound. One of the highlights is a beautiful duet with Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, a mellow track which unsurprisingly reminds me a lot of Arcade Fire’s soft sound.
Ponyhof’s self-released debut album “Empires” is out on December 17th.