The South London-based indie outfit deafpony recently released their latest single ‘Glowing’ – an appetising take on dream-rock/pop laced with a multitude of intriguing musical influences.
The story between myself and this young, 4-piece band harks back a few years: beginning at university in Birmingham – I was fortunate enough to befriend a few of the band members who, at that time, had just birthed the band in the Croydon area within London. Then, at the very beginning of this year I witnessed them for the first time in their live format within their hometown performing a highly-entertaining, highly-energetic, and highly-emotional set to a crowd of beloved edgy locals. Fast forward to present day – an EP and a handful of singles into their discography – deafpony have just released their latest indie-pop single ‘Glowing’ into the ether of the online musical sphere.
On the surface of this single, it seems clear that deafpony unashamedly wear their influences heavily on their sleeves. From the softly-sung vocals reminiscent of Bombay Bicycle Club, to the high-pitched guitar melodies of TTNG, and the ethereal sonic landscapes of The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die. Admiringly, deafpony manage to boil these various influences down into the melting pot of this latest track fairly cohesively.
With an impressive start, neatly intertwining soft synth and guitar melodies, the track naturally rolls along into the chorus sections filled with intricately delayed vocal harmonies. The bridge then acts as the catalyst for the final section of the song which bursts into a cacophony of guitar distortion and exuberant drumming. At its ending, it subsides to the cleaner sounds displayed earlier in the track, leaving the initial guitar melody to sweetly linger in the listener’s ears.
The 4.5-minute long piece impressively transcends a variety of emotions and tones with some solid production behind it all, however, deafpony do seem to drown in their influences a little too often. For the future, I’d implore that they evolve their sound with a variation of time signatures, further incorporation of synthesisers/pianos, and a feistier vocal delivery within this ideal dream-pop, indie-rock landscape. Nevertheless, the future is promising for the band as the potential is most certainly there and the opportunity to carve out their own unique sound further awaits them.