Orville Peck’s debut album is a glowing love letter to country music
The lonesome cowboy. Who is he? What’s he doing? Where’s he going? We may never know as he passes through town and rides off into the sunset. Orville Peck takes this classic image of the mysterious cowboy a step further, donning a leather mask and his trusty Stetson, and leaves his fans with the same questions.
Peck’s debut album, “Pony,” continues in creating a lonesome cowboy narrative by letting his songs do the talking. Citing influence from Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson to Morrissey and Swans, “Pony” delivers a stark and sprawling sound that plays into the enigma and persona that Peck has created for himself. While Peck himself is shrouded in mystery, the songs that makeup “Pony” serve as a flickering fire casting slivers of light onto the ambiguous life of the masked artist himself.
The album’s opener and lead single, “Dead of Night,” is a vast and weary track depicting the travels of a pair of highwaymen. Peck’s guitar moseys along in a somewhat simple tune, as the croon of the masked cowpoke turns this simple torch song into a track of fleeting love and sadness so viscous that Peck’s tale begins to feel like reality.
“Turn to Hate” finds Peck wrestling with the fact that he has the freedom of being an outsider wherever he goes: independent and a lone rider. Yet, with that comes a desire for normalcy and stability. Like the end of an old western film, Peck must decide to ride on or hold tight to those he loves. “Walking out towards the gate / You’ll all be stars now, just you wait / Done enough to take the bait / Don’t let my sorrow turn to hate.” Despite the somewhat downtrodden lyrics, it’s all wrapped up in a foot-stomping, hoedown-worthy tune.
Throughout the entirety of “Pony,” there is a romanticization of the west and cowboy culture tied neatly together with an almost supernatural haze. “Kansas (Remembers Me Now),” is a prime example of this phenomenon. With a sorrowful guitar that seems to drag on into an abyss, Peck’s otherworldly voice guides the track through a Lynchian maze of funhouse mirrors. Leaving listeners at The Black Lodge as a disorienting static washes over Peck declaring “Kansas remembers me now.”
In the toe-tapping, barn-raising “Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call),” Peck embraces the clichés of old westerns and outlaw flicks. Incorporating cartoon gunshots, whip cracks and a whistle that’s only place is the moment right before a duel at high noon, this song finds the lone ranger seeming to break the character of the intimidating gunslinger for a more animated bandleader.
Peck has the innate ability to create a cinematic and surreal experience with his songwriting. “Pony” shines a light on his masked and mysterious persona, giving us a glimpse into the secretive life of the veiled vaquero. Yet, even after 40 minutes of music, there is still very much left to the imagination. But if there’s one thing to take away from Peck’s debut, it’s that the cowboy ethos is very much alive and well in Peck and his posse.