Ok gang, this is going to be a quick one. Here's the deal: after years and years of listening to and critiquing music, it gets a little easier to recognize when you encounter a band or an artist that will simply never click with you. This isn't really a criticism of the music itself or the band/artist, just a simple understanding that some music just doesn't connect. Maybe it's a style thing, maybe a genre issue, a problem with the music writing, the vocals, the lyrics, etc. It could be any number of things or a combination of lots of those elements. 

Dark Pony's Suburban Serenade Volume 1 is a perfect example of this occurrence. In truth, there's really nothing wrong with this album. The music is performed well, the mix is solid, the tunes are catchy, etc., etc. And that's about as far as I can go with it. Dark Pony is in a genre of music that, at least for the foreseeable future, I'll never be into. It's an easy listening mix of pop and rock that's somewhat reminiscent of artists like Jack Johnson and Donavon Frankenreiter. For better or worse, this sort of music bores me almost as soon as I hear it, so in the interest of fairness, I really don't want to comment much more that to say this: If you're a fan of either those artists or the styles of music that I mentioned, you should definitely give this a shot.

I do have to give credit where credit is due: Jon Herchert (the man who is, essentially, Dark Pony) has obviously put a lot of time and passion into this project. A quick glimpse at his website reveals that he's shot homemade music videos for most, if not all of the songs on this album. I hate to rain on a guy's parade, especially since I have plenty of musical aspirations of my own. His music is well-put together and while I might not like it personally, it's a style that obviously appeals to a wide range of people. So if this sounds like you and your tastes, then you should take a listen.