The French Trio Gets Us Dancing To Their Regrets On 2nd Album

Name: Pony Pony Run Run

Most Like: Miami Horror, Thieves Like Us, Weezer

When They Started: 2005

Genre: Indie Euro-electro

The Sound: If eighties new wavers Alphaville mixed with nineties shoegaze, plus a tiny drop of Eurovision.

Memorable Lyric: Sorry, I am/Sorry, I am.

What have these handsome French devils done that they’re constantly apologizing? The trio from Nantes bubbled up in 2009 with the rueful, infectious dance pop of “Hey You,” a sonic apology to a fellow world-traveler. Made up of two brothers and their art school pal, Pony Pony Run Run started out with a van and an EU passport, playing shows without a record, record label, or booking agent. They paid their dues and came up with the pointed debut You Need Pony Pony Run Run, and on the strength of single “Hey You” made it to the hallowed stages of Glastonbury.

For the second album, they’ve taken their indie electro in a tighter direction. Recorded in the idyll of a Basque studio, but mixed by a Hip-Hop producer, the eponymous LP has both dreamy and in-your-face elements. Its lead track, “Sorry,” floats on New Wave clouds of regret, a theme that they continue to mine with success. If they’re wrong in love, they are so right on the dancefloor. Influenced by nineties FM radio, the album is also indebted to Weezer – both the band’s melancholy and its raw energy.