by Kenyon Hopkin
Brother/sister duo Camille and Alexander McGregor want to make music that their "grandmother would have liked." With a vintage guitar and pretty harmonies, Boston's Ponies in the Surf follow through. Formally playing in a psych-garage band, Alexander finds an opposite talent, while the two bring more to the table aside from their already beautiful acoustic framework. After the precious indie folk of "See You Happy" and "More to Living," they introduce an appreciation for world music (the bossa nova-flavored "Ventricle" and the French-sung "Je T'Aime"). An unlisted last track applies their own mouths and tongues as percussion, at which point it's confirmed that Ponies in the Surf can make great use of minimal instrumentation. Their grandmother or great grandfather who disappeared into a coffee field would have been proud. A "demonstration" may be all its title suggests, so the promise of a quick follow-up would be welcomed.