Ice Cream Spiritual, the sophomore album from Baltimore lunatics Ponytail, is a sticky-sweet concoction of madness that’s only two steps from going absolutely nuclear. Building upon the foundation of energetic, experimental noise punk that bands such as the Mae Shi and No Age have laid down, the group takes off running like children trying to chase after the ice cream man’s truck of delights.
From track one, Ponytail doesn’t attempt to be cute or even subtle with their music. “Beg Waves,” the opening track, starts up with a quiet acoustic strumming for only three seconds until vocalist Molly Siegel blasts out a trill and everything descends into a sonic squall of guitars, drums and Siegel’s voice. Her voice is unique–in fact, she probably would fit in better in a Japanese noise rock band–but the backing band supports its eccentricities. Dustin Wong and Ken Seeno provide the squiggling guitar riffs, sometimes crossing into a punk-rock sound. Drummer Jeremy Hyman can only be described as super-human as his beats remain frantic and crazy. Tracks like “Sky Drool” or “Small Wevs” might make your arms cramp up in sympathy.
Ponytail isn’t the easiest band to get into. It’s occasionally chaotic, but never unorganized. It’s just barely teetering on the edge of insanity, but manages to never fall over into a mess. After a few consecutive listens, it starts to all make sense leaving the enjoyment of the chocolatey rapture of an Ice Cream Spiritual.