The Oxygen Ponies are the work of New York actor and musician Paul Megna, whose bio is an almost comically over-the-top catalog of misery: "Taught to play guitar by his friend Jeff Buckley after being shot in the neck by a sniper," "perfected his style during a seven month stretch in Sag Harbor after thwarting a girlfriend's suicide attempt," "decided to record this album upon ending a five year relationship just a few months before the scheduled wedding date." It's no surprise, then, that the music skews melancholy, with Megna often sounding heartbroken and a little dazed at his own loneliness, but it's also gorgeous, hazily atmospheric and intelligently written. "Get Over Yrself," on which Megna sounds a little bit more forceful, a little less lost and alone, and quite a bit like Joe Henry, stands out in part because of Don Piper's eerie production.
-- T.B.
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