If bed sheets could be draped up and wrung out, när-kə would be the outcome. Minneapolis duo Pony Bwoy — made up of friends Jeremy Nutzman and Hunter Morley — are coming off their debut from last summer, gasping behind shy, blazing R&B. In a more submerged stance than that self-titled, singer/rapper Nutzman sides with range on när-kə: In tracks like “Burning Smooth” and “Creature Comforts,” he explores back-of-the-throat humming and quick, breathy words that provoke bed-sheet desire. We get spoken word on “Black Comedy.” Dude is a full house.
But Morley and Nutzman take turns in the light. On “Inanimate, Baby,” Nutzman’s vocals become scattered soul vocals, quite literally transposing themselves around a list of jagged pops and whistles from Morley. In “Mər - Mər,” one of the record’s strongest tracks, Morley give nods to the deep marks set on Anxiety with both his production and the transformation of Nutzman’s vocals into more of a soft, direct ambient.
I love när-kə because of its humility. There is no cry to live above their means and a sense of introspection that their self-titled lacked. Don’t sleep on it (\ˈnär-kə-ˌlep-sē\).
när-kə is out officially next Tuesday, December 9.
• Pony Bwoy: https://ponybwoy.bandcamp.com/album/pony-bwoy-lp
• Pony Bwoy: https://soundcloud.com/pony-bwoy
• Pony Bwoy: https://www.facebook.com/PonyBwoy/info
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