Pony

• TV Baby [Take This to Heart, 2021] A-
• Velveteen [Take This to Heart, 2023] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

TV Baby [Take This to Heart, 2021]
Even in the world-weary, socially impaired pandemic era, pop songs biz or alt do have a way of gravitating to romantic themes when they're not busy advocating full-bore dancefloor escape. So the fact that lyrics like the 10 on this Toronto trio's debut album aren't more plentiful has long mystified and annoyed me. How variously, sanely, and insecurely singer-guitarist Sam Bielanski articulates the frustrations and anxieties but also pleasures and satisfactions of a love life that's sometimes on the right track and other times not is actively refreshing, not least because her telltale heart remains in the right place whether she's sad or exhilarated. Exhilarated comes in second, of course. Happy love songs--so hard to do with an edge. At least as hard as happy love itself. A-

Velveteen [Take This to Heart, 2023]
Thirty-one-year-old Torontonian alt-rocker Sam Bielanski is not only pretty and smart but writes songs that are both and sings them like she knows it. The memorable tunes are easily negotiable, the lyrics concise and credible if too often frustrated--so much so they make you wonder whether she's too eager, too demanding, or, more likely as I calculate the demographics, a well-meaning mark who has trouble distinguishing between male confidence and male chauvinism. That's sure the way one called "Sucker Punch" makes it seem, although without ever suggesting that he literally hit her even if catching her when she fell proved beyond his capabilities. Inspirational Verse insofar as it's in control verbally: "My boyfriend is dead/I met him when I moved into a haunted house/Lingering in bed/It's all his fault I turned into a ghost." A-