Initially comprising Tahita Bulmer on vocals, Andy Spence on guitar, Igor Volk on bass, Lou Hayter on keyboards, and Sarah Jones on drums, the London dance-rock outfit New Young Pony Club drew from LCD Soundsystem, the Stranglers, and Gang of Four when it emerged via the Ice Cream 7" single in February 2005. That limited pressing of 1,000 copies vanished within three days, accelerating the group’s rising profile with U.K. music journalists and style-focused online outlets. A contract with Modular Recordings—the label also home to Wolfmother, the Avalanches, and Van She—arrived alongside the follow-up single “The Get Go” before 2005 closed, yet the band still sought wider international traction. Exposure came when their biggest U.K. success, “Ice Cream,” soundtracked an Intel Core 2 Duo television advertisement during fall 2006, paving the way for November U.K. dates opening for Lily Allen. The debut full-length Fantastic Playroom finally appeared in 2007, after which bassist Volk exited in 2008. Despite relentless road work, the interval before the next album stretched considerably; The Optimist surfaced only in 2010. Hayter and Jones then departed, leaving Bulmer and Spence as a duo that promptly adopted the NYPC moniker. Their self-titled effort NYPC reached stores in 2013.
