Horsegirl
Phonetics On and On
***and1/2 out of *****
The trio, Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) have grown, with Lowenstein and Cheng attending college at NYU, but the band went back to Chicago to record the album with producer Cate Le Bon (Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Wilco). The band and Le Bon deserve kudos for pulling off the neat trick of expanding the groups instrumentation, but actually moving in a more minimalist direction. This is one of the better sounding albums released this year as each of the individual instruments/voices ring rich and important.
As far as the songs themselves the band seems to be going for more of an early Velvet Underground direction, perhaps it is the NYC rubbing off on them. The group plays with 50's girl group vocals, indie-rock and light psych as they continue their musical journey. While the album can feel a touch one-note in tone, that thematic cohesion can also work to the groups advantages as slight changes to sound/instrumentation go a long way.
The opening "Where'd You Go?" sets the albums tone as the stripped down sound still manages to get across dreamy guitar, classic girl group vocals, and upbeat drumming before a screechy guitar solo cooks wonderfully. Instrumentation increases on this album as Cheng plays violin on efforts like the repetitive "In Two's" and "2468" which uses deadpan vocals and odd layers of sound to build towards the finale.
"Julie" is the best of the bunch as synths increase the sound layers as the full effort works wonders with small guitar flourishes while the acoustic guitar moves to the center on the more traditional sounding "Frontrunner". The band has lots of indie influences but clearly channels some Yo La Tengo love on the slightly more driving effort "Switch Over".
At times the group feels to be odd for odd's sake as on the groovy/off-kilter "Rock City" which tacks on an odd shift at the end. The restrained nature of the recording under cuts the noise rock finale of "Information Content" and "Well I Know You're Shy" is an excellent outline of a garage rocker, but could use some more energy and wild abandoned to kick it up a notch.
Overall though the groups vision, with the help of Le Bon, delivers a linked sound as efforts like "Sport Meets Sound" and closer "I Can't Stand To See You" manage to get the groups ideas across in successful, minimalist fashion. While there isn't a standout single, there is a clear confidence on display from the band throughout.
For this go around, less is certainly more for Horsegirl who continue to grow and flourish with both odd minimalist outings and bright grooving shakers on their sophomore offering Phonetics On and On.
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