Iron Ponies EP by Provincial Parks

If I had to be honest, which I don't, I really wasn't expecting to enjoy Iron Ponies EP by Provincial Parks. My initial reaction, was to recoil at the adult-contempo rock/pop sound, but I did give it chance and boy-howdy am I glad that I did.

(Rob spends an incalculable amount of time thinking about how to try and convince readers to listen to the record even though he's compared the band to ones that his parents would listen to.)

And really, now that I think about it, once you've gone through your teenage angst period this issue of genre shouldn't be a big deal. I mean, good music is good music, right?

(Rob spends time thinking about all the artists he likes that his parents do also... he comes up with: A bunch from the '60s/70s/80s, Feist, Basia Bulat, Coldplay, Great Lake Swimmers, The Acorn, Ohbijou, and then decides its enough that he doesn't have to justify his initial reaction to the album anymore.)

What I really like about the about the album, particularly since it was produced in the band's basement, is how smooth it is and how it flows (one might say like a late summer breeze) from beginning to end. And while the album is smooth and catchy, little things like the noise of the Ossington subway stop at the end of 'Scenes & Faces' show the kind of creativity that you don't see from other bands who play this type of music.

(Rob tries to decide which song(s) to post since he feels like all of them are really good and songs that his readers should hear. He decides on 'Open Grave' the kick-ass opener and 'Scenes & Faces' 'Islands' because its also really good, and that's what I'm listening to at the moment. He tries to figure out a way to explain that the difficulty in choosing which songs to post is indicative of how excellent this EP is. He fails, since, this descriptive writing thing - ironically - is not really his bag, baby.)

[mp3] Provincial Parks - Open Grave
[mp3] Provincial Parks - Islands

More good news! The band is having their CD release party at the Mod Club this Saturday, Nov. 8.

Even more good news! They have offered to let you in for FREE if you email them at: provincialparks [AT] gmail [DOT] com

Sadly, I will not be able to attend (parents are coming to visit, if only I had known I probably would've actually brought them but we're going to see Jersey Boys), but you should go and see a band that I think has put out one of the three best debut EPs this year.