Seattle’s Seapony fit like a glove into the loft space at Origami Records for their Monday show. Their sound captured on Go With Me is pleasantly lo-fi, rendering relatively up-beat, melodically jaunty songs into a reverberant dreamscape. The dreaminess wasn’t quite as apparent in their live performance. Instead, their tunes, which have the effect of familiarity after a single listen, were revitalized into a refreshing context.
Some listeners may be disappointed, but Seapony deserves respect and gratitude for their diversification. To listen to Go With Me is to experience their music still hibernating in the womb, whereas in their live performance, it is born into the world, released to stretch its limbs into space, and allowed to breathe. The simplicity of Seapony then achieves the full potential of its sincerity.
Electronic drums were replaced with a simple floor tom and snare, grounding each song but placing focus on the less obvious rhythmic qualities of the other instrumentalists, particularly the hooky surfiness of lead guitarist Danny Rowland. In hearing Seapony in the intimacy of the tiny, crammed Origami Records store, one could easily imagine Jen Weidl crafting these songs in her bedroom over the pit-patter of the Seattle rain outside. Only the best artists are able to show that they truly mean it when they create and perform their art. Seapony really means it.
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