FEATURE: Ottawa Art Rock Group Pony Girl Share New Video For “King Of the Country Club” Alongside Latest LP ‘Enny One Wil Love You’

Ottawa/Hull-based indie art rock group Pony Girl have spent the last decade captivating audiences and fans with their textured and experimental approach to pop music. Fronted by Pascal Huot and Yolande Laroche, and rounded out by guitarist Julien Dussault, bassist Greggory Clark, and percussionist Mili Hong, the five-piece fuse together elements of electronica, chamber-pop, synth-wave, and indie rock while exploring topics that surround them; from online shopping, self-sabotage, nightmares, and dead-end jobs, the negativity runs free while being shaped into engaging art-pop. Bringing it all together once again, the group have released their third album Enny One Wil Love You via Paper Bag Records.

Despite it having been seven years since their 2015 album Foreign Life, their new album is consistent with their unpredictable and dynamic songwriting style, all the while pushing their own expectations to new places. “Collectively we were stepping out of our comfort zone for the first time”, Pascal Huot shares. “It’s our first record that isn’t DIY (aka recorded in our living room). Being able to get together and just play was very freeing. It created a lot of room to make music, make mistakes and capture moments that couldn’t exist otherwise“.

Written predominately before the pandemic, Enny One feels like a premonition, as the soon-to-come wave of change and hardships had already been captured in the songs. “Age of Anxious“, “You Live And You Die”, and “Makeup” carry an expressive weight to them. As well, more everyday tribulations come through on their glossy, surreal track list, including previously released singles “Running In Circles” and title track “Enny One Wil Love You”.

Of course, there is some humour sprinkled in – most notably their latest single and video “King of the Country Club”. The band explains, “’King of the Country Club’ confronts privilege through a surreal golf nightmare. Our friend and songwriter, Gianna Lauren, once dreamed she had to whack someone in the throat with a golf club, which inspired us to think about relationships to power. Pascal’s auto-tuned snark is as insincere as these social hierarchies.”

Additionally, the band explore the compelling qualities of augmented reality on its accompanying visual, providing an engaging and perfect match for the song’s choppy and warped sound.

Clocking in just over a half hour, the 12-track collection from Pony Girl is well worth the wait. Boasting some of their best work to date in one vessel, Enny One Wil Love You provides a unique perspective on common tropes, giving the realists of the world a soundtrack for the darkness of society outside their doors. Honest, eccentric, and stimulating, Pony Girl have done something magical with their new release.

Listen to the album in full here, and read through an interview with Pascal Huot further past, and check out upcoming live show dates:

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It’s been over seven years since your last album. What are some things that you’ve continued to bring into your music, and what are some things you’ve moved on from? 

Documentation has always been a big part of our music making process. Recording everything, all the time. We try to capture all these moments together and then try to make sense of it (or not). Some of the work becomes a sort of collage, others are 1:1 – unedited, in the moment. That process appears on both the lyrical and the production side. I think this reflects how we move through this world. We’re constantly taking in information, out of context, and giving it a new meaning, a life of its own. In a song we might sample a cash register at T&T, a Turkish Wedding in Rotterdam or someone having a breakdown outside Bluesfest in Ottawa. We’ll even sample drums we recorded live for a track, process it and reintroduce it into that same song. These sounds make up our shared experiences. 

We want to continue to find what is relevant to us. How can we make the process different and interesting for us every time? How can we share the most authentic version of ourselves? I think that’s the motivating force behind this project.

How would you describe the collective energy of the new album? 

‘Enny One Wil Love You’ comes out of a time of feeling hyper connected and disconnected at the same time. The title itself reflects this sort of duality. How every moment can have a double meaning depending on your story, on where you’re coming from.

Collectively we were stepping out of our comfort zone for the first time. It’s our first record that isn’t DIY (aka recorded in our living room). Being able to get together and just play was very freeing. It created a lot of room to make music, make mistakes and capture moments that couldn’t exist otherwise.

What was something from the album’s recording process that you were unsure of but turned out better than you expected? 

Recording live off the floor was a new thing for us. We were able to get together and create in different studio environments. A highlight was leaning into the present moment and not thinking about the actual act of audio recording. This was only possible by collaborating with folks outside of the band. During the recording process, Seb Perry (audio engineer) and Philippe Charbonneau (producer) helped us focus on our performance. Austin Tuff (Braids) mixed everything and brought new energy to the record.

Reaching out to people outside of the core band was also a first for us. We’ve been lucky enough to work with an amazing cross section of talented folks. Musicians, visual artists, label friends, video directors, etc.. The project has been in many good hands over the last 4 years and all these people have contributed to bringing this album to life.

In “KOTCC”, I loved the lyric: “I thought pressure made diamonds, not bad life decisions”. Is there a specific incident that inspired that line? 

It’s also one of my favorite lines! Most of the lyrics were taken from longer “word dumps”. I’m constantly recording audio memos on my phone and I have endless note files with words, quotes, events – things that I’ve heard people say. 

This shares a kind of kinship with how we recorded the music. You’re a sensitive being, an antenna, that moves through life and tries to keep open ears and open eyes. The world around us is beautiful and the world around us is broken. That duality is at the core of this album.

Funny story: when we first tried to shoot the music video for this song – Yolande and I got stuck in a 40 car pile up on the 401. We totaled a rented SUV and could have died! Yolande had just come back from a tour in Germany, and Yan Zhu (Director) and I had been busting our asses on pre-production materials, prop building, logistics, etc… We put so much pressure on that first shoot and it all came crashing down outside of Brockville on our way up to Toronto in a snow storm.

Your music videos thus far combine reality and fantasy through animation in a very compelling way. What was the creative inspiration behind melting those dimensions together? 

We want to explore contrast within this project. Contrasts in sound and in themes. Using live action and animation (Director Yan Zhu, 2D animator Shiyi Li + 3D animator Stephanie Kuse) lets us do this visually. It lets us step into a world of boundless fiction. King of the Country Club is a reflection on self-surveillance, gatekeeping and privilege. The voice presented in the verses isn’t likeable. This voice is juxtaposed with an upbeat, happy but sluggish groove. There are glimpses of hope in there, in the chorus or the bridge. Like maybe this character can change? But ultimately, we end up with an apathetic response. Fiction is great because it lets you poke at the yoke of these layered issues.

This juxtaposition of visual styles is only possible because of our diverse collaborators. In a way they embody the paradox. When working with others, it’s necessary to let them explore, let them use their voice. I think there’s a place for everyone to shine, even though it can feel impossible to find sometime.

Who do you think would play the best golf game to be named “King of the Country Club?”

If we were at a golf game, we’d all be in the crowd. Watching, cheering, loudly eating peanuts, shh-ing and crying. We’re just here to witness a hole in one or the worst shot of the year (so far).

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Live Dates:

October 14 – Ottawa @ The Record Centre – In Store Listening Party @ 6:00 pm
Nov 18 – Ottawa @ Club SAW
Nov 25 – Toronto @ Baby G
Nov 26 – Wolfe Island @ Wolfe Island Hotel
Dec 2 – Montreal – Casa Del Popolo