Pony (Rex Orange County album)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.4/10[8]
Metacritic	76/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
American Songwriter	[11]
DIY	[1]
Financial Times	[12]
The Guardian	[13]
NME	[3]
The Observer	[14]
Pitchfork	5.0/10[15]
Q	[16]
The Times	[17]

Hannah Mylrea from NME wrote of the album: "A dazzling follow up to Apricot Princess, Rex Orange County’s third studio album is a total delight. It may be miserable outside, and the world's going to shit, but try listening to Pony and not feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future. Go on, we dare you."[3] Elly Watson expressed similar views in DIY magazine, describing it as "equal parts heart wrenching and hopeful".[1]

Giving the album an average 3 out of 5, Tara Joshi at The Guardian described the album as "jaunty and engaging", though Joshi expressed that "Pony meanders, seemingly unaware of its purpose".[13]

Luke Levenson from American Songwriter commented: "His unique pop prosody and production skills, more sophisticated than ever in Pony, foretell that his sound will continue progressing to new creative heights, with the heft of catchy pop music and the inventiveness of its growing indie subgenre."[11]

Credits for Pony adapted from AllMusic.[18]

• Rex Orange County – vocals, guitar, bass, drum programming, drums, Fender Rhodes, keyboards, organ, percussion, piano, producer, saxophone, strings, synthesizer, vocoder, woodwind
• Ben Baptie – guitar, drum programming, brass, saxophone, woodwind, strings, percussion, production, mixing
• Sally Herbert – arrangement, conducting, strings, violin
• Pino Palladino – bass
• Michael Underwood – clarinet, flute, saxophone, woodwind arrangement
• Nick Barr – viola
• Natalia Bonner – violin
• Seb Brooks - viola
• Ian Burdge – cello
• Reiad Chibah – viola
• Calina de la Mare – violin
• Louisa Fuller – violin
• Richard George – violin
• Ian Humphries – violin
• Oli Langford – violin
• John Metcalfe – viola
• Steve Morris – violin
• Tom Pigott-Smith – violin
• Rachel Robson – viola
• Tony Wollard – cello
• Chris Worsey – cello
• Amy Stewart – string conductor
• Haydn Bendall – string engineer
• Johnny Woodham – trumpet
• Choir: Karima Abdi, Ayana Ahmed, Abdul Akbari, Zainab Al-Shammary, Mahad Ali, Retaj Almataj, Ghena Alshteiwi, Emily Amoura, Junaid Attoh, Vihan Bhudia, Nelu Dobie, Adelina Gherman, Luke Halpin, Mosda Hisharizada, Sarah Jabir, Isa Khalid, Salam Al Lakod, Lisa Marie Massiah, José Mendes, Vanessa Prilogran, Gabi Sandru, Farah Siddique, Houda Warsama, Mohammad Zalghara
• Thea Morgan-Murrell – backing vocals (track 6)

Production

• Bráulio Amado – design, illustrations
• Madeleine Pfull – paintings
• Tom Archer – assistant
• Natasha Canter – assistant
• Alex Ferguson – assistant
• Ted Jensen – mastering