Go with Me, Seapony

Author

By William Crain

Publish Date

Aug. 24, 2011

Seapony’s music is a classic indie-pop mix of jangling three-chord rhythm guitars, a clean, melodic lead guitar, a minimalistic drum machine, a barely noticeable bass, breathy, sleepy female vocals, and intentionally simple lyrics. The Seattle trio formed just last year, but if you slid “Dreaming” in between tracks by the Vaselines and Beat Happening, you might not notice that one of the songs was recorded more than 20 years after the others. (Although you probably would notice that the singing in “Dreaming” is more in tune and the musicianship less sloppy.)

For a time, beginning in the late ’80s, it seemed as if there was a band like this in every college town in the English-speaking world. Occasionally, a similar act (the Sundays, the Cardigans, the Cranberries) would have a hit, but, for the most part, indie pop was a decidedly underground phenomenon. The scene died down about ten years ago. (I’ve always thought it was Belle & Sebastian who killed it: their arrangements were so elaborate that they raised the bar beyond where most humble little indie-pop acts could reach.) But in the past few years we’ve had a widespread resurgence of interest in the style. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are practically missionaries for the gospel of indie pop, and you can hear the sound reflected in the Best Coast, Vivian Girls, and several other recently buzzed-about bands.