With their excellent debut ‘Versions of Modern Performance’ out, this band needs to be on your radar.
When you ’re a music - obsessed stripling , there are few things as exciting as sharing your preferent song with somebody else . It can be a vulnerable experience , view how much record can mean to you at 16 , but , for many music lovers , it can also be a bonding experience unlike any other .
That ’s how Nora Cheng , Penelope Lowenstein , and Gigi Reece total together and shape their Chicago - base indie rock bandHorsegirl . After meeting through youth music programme four years ago when they were still underclassmen , they bind while jamming in each other ’s basements and spirt about their beloved for My Bloody Valentine and other ' XC alt - rock groups . When they could n’t play Sonic Youth covers any longer , starting a band obviously followed suit .
" I was in a place where I felt like I was n’t go to obtain people that I really connected with , and then when we became close , it was like friendly relationship I ’d never had before , " says Reece , who play drum . " Then the fact that we get to playact euphony and be originative together ? That was another thing I had never live . It mat really fulfilling . "
Penelope Lowenstein, Gigi Reece, and Nora Cheng|Design by Chineme Elobuike for Thrillist / Photo by Cheryl Dunn
As the group releases their excellent debutVersions of Modern Performance(out now via Matador ) a year after their single"Ballroom Dance Scene"blew up on alt radio and made them an indie bombilation ring , they want their music to foster the same kind of vernal exuberance that they found with each other among their fans . " What we ’re doing with our friends in our videos , " says Reece , observe how everybody is trip the light fantastic toe in a kitchen in"Billy"and goofing around in"Dirtbag Transformation,““we want people to do that . " With their thrilling guitar and incredibly sincere friendly relationship at the snapper of Horsegirl , it seems all but inevitable .
Much of the DIY sound that fuel their phonograph record can be owe to the Chicago scene they came up in , and are still a part of , even as they ’ve pull together fete date and gap slot for their icons Pavement . " We started very much so in the Chicago DIY scene , playing with other local bands at events that teenager Chicago kids run , " says guitar player / vocalist Cheng . Those gig , as guitarist / vocalist Lowenstein describes , typically consisted of house shows in somebody ’s basement , or at gallery space with visor featuring up of 10 enactment .
" When we were just starting out , what motivated us was see other high schoolers being in bands , and then justgoing for it — playact shows , even if they were with kids older than us or playing very unlike music , " state Reece .
Lowenstein says , " There ’s always been a sense of fervor amongst us and our Friend — beyond any medium aid or anything — that we find so happy to take heed to music that we love and be protagonist with the people who are make it . It ’s such a extra experience to finger like we ’re all make it at the same clock time in the same place . "
Although Horsegirl is from Chicago proper — a detail they are quick to affirm , and meant , for some , neglect to get their gadget driver ’s licenses until the end of high shoal — a great lot of their medicine explores dazed and even diseased suburbanite account . Over noisy guitars you could get lost in , they sing about best friends and kids being taken by boredom . " It ’s a voyeuristical look into the suburbs , " says Cheng . " A good deal of the songs we write are very driven by imagination , and the suburbs are a sorting of unusual imaging . "
Even as they look elsewhere for inspiration , their post - punk also capsule the energy of their hometown view that they ’re so proud to be a part of , with repetitions of the word " saltation " across air and their constantly uproarious strain . " Something that we focused on [ when write our record ] was make Sung that felt good in a unrecorded setting , " says Reece . " Our songs have always relied on make good sound , but we couldplay themwith bad sound because [ we ’ve often end up ] having tough sound at shows . We just essay to make thing as loud as we can for the blank we have . "
Nora Cheng, Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein|Photo by Todd Fisher
That , again , go back to lance they used to make for where lashings of teens were packed into their parent ' downstairs , it always feel " quick , " and " the mic shocked your mouth”—which , to them , is a better gig withmuchstronger vim than closely any of the festival leg they played at SXSW this yr . For Lowenstein , few shows to date stand out like a gallery showcase they played on Halloween in costume as Wes Anderson eccentric . Although the guitar tone was " ugly , " the drum outfit was off the microscope stage , and her Margot Tenenbaum wigging descend off — it was when Lowenstein feel like the ring officially became part of " a closely - knit scene . " She says , " It was just such a nightmare , but it wasfun . "
With their book out now and approaching show to play , they go for multitude get a sensation of the vitality that they ’ve tried to capture in their ' ninety - inspired phone . Ideally , they envision crowds doing " the twirl " to their music — something they do at show themselves and encourage interview to do . But even kids lounging around their sleeping accommodation , zeroing in on their guitar sound , or dancing around their kitchen to it , would be more than enough . " cast on a disk with a group of friends and trip the light fantastic around your kitchen — that ’s always very special , " says Lowenstein .
By definition , the band discern what a stereotypical " horse girl " is , but Lowenstein suppose , to them , it ’s also about " the real gems , " or " the multitude who are really passionate about something " and " are not trying to do anything for anyone else . " So in that sense , that ’s who Horsegirl is at their core — they’re get it on to cite their pet Kim Gordon quotes and go off on tangents about how sometimes all they want to do is share their favorite videos of sure-enough Pavement performances with each other .
With music as good as theirs , and the wholesome Horsegirl friendship ethos to back it , you could just about think a ruck of Gen Z " horse girls " obsessing over their album , just as they do with their favourite records , and they trust the great unwashed do to theirs . Now thatVersions of Modern Performanceis here : Put it on and shamelessly do the twist to it , because pretty soon , every rock fan will be doing the twist to them , too .
