The Oxygen Ponies – Harmony Handgrenade

The life of The Oxygen Ponies’ Paul Megna reads like a tragic comedy: disrupted childhood, interrupted dreams and a healthy dose of creativity-inducing misery. The little boy who loved poetry and piano grew up into an adult who turned to music when he had nothing else to count on. Though he once aspired to acting, Megna’s jump to music was a long time coming. In releasing The Oxygen Ponies’ 2006 self-titled debut, he was merely fulfilling a destiny that he knew he could no longer hide from. That first album was almost universally lauded by fans and critics alike. The Oxygen Ponies is his baby, with Megna himself being the only permanent member.

The band’s second album, Harmony Handgrenade, is a towering journey of utterly raw emotion and barely-contained rebellion. Written in the midst of the Bush years, Megna’s lyrics call to mind the despair that was felt around the world not long ago.

The album starts off on a subdued note with “Love Yr Way,” then builds to a satisfying crescendo on the more rock-influenced songs like “Finger Trigger.” The sticky-sarcastic “War Is Over” pairs Megna’s rather subdued but plenty-dark vocals with a horn line to create a memorable and dramatic track. The title track has a catchy melody, but not much else to offer in the way of great and memorable music. I was rather disappointed with this song, but found myself humming it days after hearing it the first time.

Megna’s lyrical talents are blatantly obvious in every last song. His words are often biting, usually jaded, and always imbued with a sort of world-weariness usually reserved for musicians decades older. A sort of crushing loneliness is apparent in so many of the words that it almost feels too personal to listen in. “Tryna Get to Heaven,” despite the annoying misspelled title, contains some of the album’s most heart-felt moments: “I’m trying to build muscles made for flying/ should be living, but I’m lying/ earth-bound, incomplete/ stand down and retreat.”

The moving “Villains,” with its haunting vocals and gentle piano, matches the emotion and intensity of even Leonard Cohen’s finest moments. “Every single one of you would love to watch me fall/ but I’m not going anywhere/ I’m standing tall/ Naked in this forest filled with villains and the like/ I used to be a victim, too/ but I have seen the light.” It’s still quite early on in Paul Megna’s career, and it’s obvious that he has some growing to do. But even this early, it seems clear that he will soon take his place among the most influential of this generation’s musicians.

Tagged as: Indie Rock, New York

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