Love & Ponystep

"you can still fuck it up at the worst rave ever!"

when the trailer for this album dropped, i didn't think it was real. or, at least, it didn't feel real in the moment. following the link and having lenval brown's voice hit my ears was destabilizing. all at once, i was being pulled from two different emotional centers: my nostalgic love for vylet's music and the sublime imprint left by disco elysium. i was supremely excited for this release.

i wanna start by saying that the intricate, sample-rich music of this album is both incredibly impressive (as always) and fun to listen to. tracks like angel with a longshot and peace, love, glalie are certain to stick into playlists of mine for a while to come.

that same density, though, makes the album daunting to listen to as a whole. i listened through this album for the first time along with my lovely partner, dawn, and, more than once, i commented to xir during the album that i was, well, a bit musically exhausted.

the album is structured similarly to swans love of life, with a storyline of songs strung between ambient narration tracks. these tracks are a myriad delight in their own right, tone ranging from the lighthearted novelty of Ch 2: XPR=50 to the centering revelation and reassurance of Ch 4:DSR-50, but, despite (and perhaps because of) these interludes, sections of the album mushed together for me

specifically, the span from Ch2 to 3 felt much longer than it actually was, which, in hindsight, strikes me as odd given that peace, love, glalie is both my most anticipated song and my initial favorite from the album. i, again, got caught in a stupor like this between Ch3 and 4, although not nearly to the same extent. my first re-listen retained the 2-3 mushening but not the instance from 3-4.

if i'm being earnest with myself, a lot of this fatigue stems from a general lack of affinity for vylet's recent genre moves. or, rather, a waning affinity.

when i was brought back to vylet's music in 2022 by fish whisperer, i resonated heavily with its dense soundscapes and ability to seamlessly mix the electronic with the acoustic. that mastery isn’t lost in zelda’s modern works: walking beside a dragonfly off of this album, along with songs like reflected in the eyes of the cavern lurker from vylet’s 2024 album girls who are wizards show that plenty well.

but, as vylet’s current musical ambitions step progressively into harder EDM and noise angles, the softer ambient elements of sea’s music necessarily take a backseat to allow for the density and energy those genres require. it isn’t a falling off or degradation in the quality of the music that’s leading to my disconnect with this album, but rather my personal taste clashing with the shift in sound.

i can't say this situation doesn't make me a bit forlorn, but i think that feeling is fleeting. Love & Ponystep is still chock full of singles that i'll be jamming to for a while now to come, and, for that, i am overwhelmingly excited.