After such a complete, gnarly and moreish record as their 2022 garage-rock debut ‘Versions of A Modern Performance’, Chicago trio Horsegirl might have been forgiven for delivering variations on this winning formula for album two. Choosing instead to rip up their own rule-book entirely, the band announce new LP ‘Phonetics On and On’ (due 14th February on Matador Records) with the anti-folk volte face of new single ‘2468’.
Sounding like they’ve ingested a whole harvest’s worth of Moldy Peaches and watched Napoleon Dynamite on repeat for weeks, ‘2468’ shows a remarkable creative leap despite its sweet simplicity. Rooted in a children’s counting song – “Two. Four. Six. Eight. They Walk In Twos” is the track’s sole lyric – an initial waltz of fiddles and tapping drums frolics its way into something bigger, groovier, and more ambiguous. Like watching a sunflower grow up tall from its seed in time lapse speed, the track soon crystallises around an insatiably electric and hypnotic groove, the kind that might as well stretch into eternity.
By drawing upon a deeply rooted sense of childhood innocence, Horsegirl abstractly, and touchingly, uncover the bittersweet feeling of innocence lost. Also worthy of note is that the track was recorded with Cate Le Bon, whose own flair for a delicious minimalist has clearly rubbed off here.
Photo. by Ruby Faye
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