"I couldn’t resist the chance to exclusively premiere these Christmas tracks from two Nashville favorites – Pony Boy and Justin & the Cosmics, who are releasing these tracks as part of a series of split 7” from Cosmic Thug Records. “(Please Don’t Leave On) Christmas Eve” is Pony Boy’s deliciously sultry offering, with Justin & The Cosmics’ lucid rock ‘n’ roller “Father Christmas,” with help from the Georgettes. Cosmic Thug will release a new 7″ every 2-3 months, with each release in the upcoming series will feature artwork by local Nashville artist Casey Tanner. The next offering will be a split 7″ by Vincent Van Gold (Rob Crowell and Dennis Ryan of Deer Tick and Adam Landry) and Happiness (Dennis Ryan , Chris Ryan, Ian O’Neil of Deer Tick along with Rafay Rashid of Ravi Shavi)." Preview Tracks here
Today Pony Boy premieres the new video for “When Tomorrow Never Comes” via Elmore Magazine.
Directed by fine art photographers Joaquin Trujillio and Brian Paumier (who shot Blue Gold album art) this past July in Trujillio's hometown of Jerez and Zacatecas, Mexico, this is the latest stunning reveal from Pony Boy’s debut album Blue Gold (out now via Nashville imprint Cosmic Thug Records).
Blue Gold inhabits a dream state between art rock and alt-country, swaying between hope and lament, her velvety voice punctuated with sharp edges.
Still, great humanistic soul belies her feminist punk ethos. “I love the intimacy of singer-songwriter records, dimensions to your voice, people who don’t exist in a scene,” she says. The fact that Pony Boy (real name Marchelle Bradanini) and her English writer/director husband lived between Nashville, England and Australia, during the formation of Blue Gold, in turn, lends a sprawling feel to her tracks.
The first single off Blue Gold “Marquee Man” is a smoky and seductive satire about an actor with an ego that is so inflated; he’s a legend in his own mind. Combining her signature sultry vocals with subversive feminist lyrics, the bluesy lead single is one of many gems to be found on the album.
A sense of flight and modern nomadism is manifested throughout Blue Gold including the ambling, guitar-kissed “Metal Dreams” which was the first taste revealed from the album and premiered via Black Book.
Blue Gold follows the release of Pony Boy’s breakout 2014 EP The Devil In Me.
Pony Boy Upcoming Shows
9/2: Los Angeles, CA @ 432 Fairfax
9/16: Nashville, TN @ Americana Fest
10/10 Nashville, TN @ The 5 Spot
Pony Boy, aka Marchelle Bradanini, released her debut full-length Blue Gold last weekend, full of noir-inspired soundscapes that are foreboding by design. Even when nothing's obviously wrong, sometimes something just feels a little off. Case in point: "When Tomorrow Never Comes," an upbeat song about resignation, sung with a Cat Power-like lilt over a bouncy beat coupled with drowsy drones.
For the video, Bradanini worked with photographers Joaquin Trujillio and Brian Paumier to carry that uneasy feeling over into the visual realm. Shot in Zacatecas, Mexico, Trujillio's hometown, every scene from the languid line dance to the bus ride on which a young girl strums a guitar feels like signals are being passed that we aren't privy to. You could say it's a nod to neo-noir king David Lynch (not the first one in Pony Boy history, btw); imagine if Twin Peaks were set south of the border, and you begin to get the idea.
" Not so much straddling genres as creating her own, Pony Boy, in the end, makes such journalistic concerns moot anyway. She, quite simply, represents the arrival of a major new voice that’s set to turn heads across the spectrum."
Read full review at Stereo Embers Magazine
Thanks to No Country For New Nashville for coming out to the Release show at the Basement alongside my hometown heroes Lilly Hiatt & Justin & The Cosmics. And special thanks to all the special guests including Emma Swift and Robyn Hitchcock for his inspired harmonica solo on our closing rendition of Dylan's It's All Over Now Baby Blue. "Pony Boy is definitely one of the coolest new artists on the alt-country scene in terms of both sound and style, and we were happy to be there to catch her record release show..." Read Full Review + photos HERE