Motopony, Idle Beauty EP

Out now, Entertainment One, motoponymusic.com Motopony’s Daniel Blue is a beat poet trapped inside an indie rocker. On the group’s eponymous debut, his surrealist imagery and warbling vocals showed hints of this, and on the group’s latest release, it’s in full force. Motopony is at its best at its weirdest and bleakest. Over warped acoustic chords on the brooding “She Is Spirit,” Blue shakily coos cutting lines like “ ’Cause the truth is you can’t live inside your heart/And to be alone is worse than being dead.” Though tracks like the bright opener “Get Down (Come Up)” and the blissful “About a Song” show that the band can handle indie pop just fine, they never quite match the intensity of the EP’s darker moments. Bonus track “Breakthru” is the realization of the brilliance in Blue’s dreariness. Over trip-hop beats and ambient guitars, he emphatically rants about having an epiphany on a night out with friends in Tacoma, dancing and smoking joints. His lyrical flow is casually cool, marked by the song’s coda: “Oh my God, I think I’m about to have a breakthrough.” Within the descriptions of a monotonous evening, Blue creates a lush atmosphere and beauty. Fri., Sept. 19, Neumos

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