Orville Peck -- Show Pony: Review

Orville Peck -- Show Pony

[Columbia]

Orville Peck’s full studio debut Pony made waves in the music landscape for its artsy, mystical take on the country genre. Melding Peck’s Twitty-esque country vibrato with indie guitars and intimate 2010’s R&B vibes made tracks like “Dead of Night” and “Turn To Hate” transcend the country genre and attract new fans from all across the spectrum. Hidden behind his fringed mask and ten-gallon hat, Orville Peck’s intriguing aesthetic tied up the whole package nicely.

Peck returns quickly with follow-up EP Show Pony which consists of a tight tracklist to hold over audiences until his new full-length release. Delayed from June to August not to take away attention from the George Floyd protests, the EP released August 14th 2020 following its two single releases.

At a tight 25 minutes, this EP is nothing to scoff at. Peck tightly winds six tracks together with fantastic vocals performances and with more stripped back instrumentation. Shining single “No Glory In The West” holds huge presence with just its guitar strumming and Peck’s emotive vocal performance.

“Drive Me, Crazy” is a long-winded love struck ballad that features a wider more conventional country rock instrumentation. The leading single “Summertime” has this enchanting ballroom sway to it that brings nostalgic memories of small town romance to listeners. The largest song “Legends Never Die” follows pop formula the most to comfortably fit its Shania Twain feature and works as the big radio hit of the EP.

My favorite song on the release is the closing cover of Legendary singer Bobbie Gentry’s “Fancy” which brilliantly balances stripped-back instrumentation and operatic rock sequences to build tension for the epic scale of the song. Gentry’s lyrics tell of a hard-pressed single mother and her two children, following the daughter who recalls her climb up from poverty, braving prostitution to fulfill the dream her mom left her with. Peck’s outstanding performance of this song gives so much dimension to the story and reinforces the progressive gendered commentary in the lyrics. Peck’s wild belting and dark growls carry this entire song and perfectly guide the song to its epic climax at the end, displaying some of the singer’s best vocals laid to track yet.

Orville Peck’s quarantine EP is anything but filler and its tight tracklist, especially its closer, displays his singing talent at its best yet.

RIYL: Shania Twain, Lana Del Ray, Conway Twitty, Pavement

Listen To: “No Glory In The West”, “Fancy”