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New Young Pony Club – Fantastic Playroom (Modular Recordings) 4 stars

NYPC’s debut album of perfectly studied punk-funk may sound like this three girl, two boy quintet have stepped straight out of Hurrah’s club in the Big Apple circa 1981, but in actual fact vocalist Tahita Bulmer and guitarist Andy Spence put the band together in London town.

The result on Grey and Hiding On The Staircase is a dancefloor-friendly percussive wheeze that looks to Talking Heads offshoot The Tom Tom Club and The B52s. Bulmer’s vocal adds a saucy kookiness and colouring book levity to ride the two-fingered synthesiser groove before taking a dark turn on the eerie slo-mo of Talking, Talking.

Of course, it could all sound so terribly dated by the time you read this, and if NYPC aren’t to be dismissed as a flash-in-the-pan fashion band, it’ll be interesting to see which avenues NYPC delve down next.

The Herald, June 30th 2007

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