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Chicago Tribune
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Horsegirl's concert at Metro was from a Chicago band more sure of itself
Horsegirl is a Chicago band made good. Born and bred in the city, they've achieved what could ostensibly be called mainstream indie success, a reflection of their years of dedicated hard work and attention to detail. And that growth was quite evident during their sold-out headlining show Saturday night at the Metro. According to the band, it was their biggest headline show ever. 'It feels very good to be home,' said band member Penelope Lowenstein. The group — also comprised of Nora Cheng and Gigi Reece — first made a name for themselves during the pandemic. I first checked out their music when they emailed me after the release of their 2020 single 'Ballroom Dance Scene,' and I thought they were more talented, more charismatic and hungrier than the majority of their peers. You could hear this in the music itself, rooted deeply in their influences, like Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and post-punk artists of the '80s. But their sound was also decidedly of the times. It was new and humble. It was youthful. And it was no wonder then that they soon broke out in a big way, signing to Matador Records, releasing their debut album, and nabbing a collection of live and festival performances that would make any band envious. Even more impressive, they were able to do this while still in high school and college at New York University. Now, a few years into their creative trajectory, Horsegirl is a seasoned act, sure of themselves and their music. Last week, the group released 'Phonetics On and On,' their sophomore album. The record marks a sonic departure from the sounds that first made them known. Gone are the long, wistful and moody songs of the past. They've been replaced with shorter ditties, songs that light up and glisten in the ear over a few short minutes before they end. Horsegirl has embraced a sort of '90s indie pop ethos of simplicity and straightforwardness, an ode to their down-to-Earth roots that shows they are students of the craft as well as magic makers of melody. Saturday night's show took us through a journey of some of those newer songs. It was their first time performing many of these tracks in front of a live audience. Yet, they didn't appear to have any kinks or issues. A few tracks from the record are ones they've performed live for a few years. I'm thinking of songs like the album and show opener, 'Where'd You Go?' which has a warm, familiar and lilting quality to it. The crowd bopped along on the main floor, with many fans quietly singing along to the tune. 'Switch Over,' another track from the record, was a great opportunity to showcase their precision and performance choices. Or consider the extremely popular '2468,' a sort of nursery rhyme-esque track that worms its way into your mind. The audience delighted in its steady, danceable progression. It's another track where the group sings together, very '60s-like. Like many of their newer tracks, the song got faster and more propulsive at the end, creating a satisfying conclusion that takes you by surprise and gets you amped for more. Horsegirl has tricks up their sleeves, and what a delight that is. 'Live and Ski,' off of their debut album 'Versions of Modern Performance,' was a true highlight of the night. The song's strange percussive structure has a sort of progressive, almost foreboding quality to it that really leans into the lyrics of the song. ('She asked her friends for help so / But they don't know what she needs / They ask her questions.') It's a little over two minutes long, but heard live, the group really expands on the track's instrumentation, making the killer break toward the end of the track unnerving and uncomfortable, but also incredible. A lot is left unsaid. It's a quick and monumental buildup that feels like jumping off a cliff into madness. I loved it. The latter half of the show had a bit of a lull, with the audience staying less engaged and driven as some of the slower tracks blended into each other. But that was only a slight problem, and one that didn't permeate the entire evening. Most audience members were enraptured, bouncing along to the songs and enthusiastically cheering for the band members. 'Julie,' another track from 'Phonetics On and On,' reminded me of the '90s and 2000s group Broadcast, with a pointed and unearthly quality. 'I Can't Stand to See,' another new track, has an infectious energy and a classic Chicago garage rock vibe that instantly translates to the audience. Overall, the group's music was piercing in the moment and memorable long after the show ended. For a band that's always shown promise, that kind of residual memory is a true achievement.
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On review – a minimalist indiepop masterpiece
On Horsegirl's 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance, three Chicagoan gen Z musicians robed themselves in the noise of gen X indie-rock, their chaotic carapace of distortion and dynamics housing soft-centred pop and bruised melodies. But its fuzzy charms are eclipsed by this quantum leap of a second album, a masterpiece of intention and purposefulness. Produced by Cate Le Bon, Phonetics On and On prunes away the clatter and finds new power in restraint. Their references now are the third Velvets album, the first Raincoats record, and the Feelies. Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein's guitars are taut and brittle, and there's not a wasted moment. With sonic austerity comes a newfound lyrical clarity; sweet songs of loneliness, displacement and confusion that find lucidity in simplicity – like Frontrunner's refrain of 'In the morning when you're sleeping / I can't wait' – sung in knowingly deadpan, subtle voices. The results are a joy. 2468 is perfect minimalist pop, its giddy sharp edges piercing the subconscious like a barb; the glint of joy behind the dry, austere dispassion of Lowenstein's vocal is exquisite, best heard on Well I Know You're Shy; I Can't Stand to See You is almost Strokes-esque in its concision, its embarrassment of hooks and pop flourishes. The album feels almost clockwork: every element machine-tooled, a place for everything, and everything in its place. But there's no coldness here, the poignancy only accentuated by the poise with which these songs are delivered, the 7/8ths of the iceberg further revealing itself with each play.
Wall Street Journal
11-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Phonetics On and On' Review: Horsegirl's Hypnotic Guitar Rock
Over the past five years there has been a groundswell of new acts that revere the alternative rock of the '90s. Many are solo artists or bands fronted by women. In terms of timing, it makes perfect sense—these are the children who grew up listening to CDs from their Gen X parents' youth while riding around in the back of the minivan. Wet Leg and Beabadoobee are two acts that fit this description, and, on a much bigger scale, pop singer Olivia Rodrigo is another. Horsegirl, a three-piece indie-rock band originally from Chicago and now mostly based in New York, is in a sense a continuation of this trend. The group comprises Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein, who sing and play both guitar and bass, and drummer Gigi Reece. The trio's sound is steeped in the underground music from late in the 20th century, and its 2022 debut album, 'Versions of Modern Performance,' featured contributions from guitarist Lee Ranaldo and drummer Steve Shelley, both of Sonic Youth. It was an auspicious beginning for three performers who were just shy of 20 years old, yet it also seemed fair to describe them as another group of '90s revivalists. But the second Horsegirl album, 'Phonetics On and On' (Matador), out Friday, is a departure from its predecessor, and finds the band drawing on a different and more obscure set of influences. The guitar that kicks off the opening 'Where'd You Go?' is thin and trebly, conjuring a school of strumming started by the Velvet Underground and furthered by Yo La Tengo and the Strokes, and the percussion is a twitching pile of drum rolls that brings to mind DIY groups from the U.K.'s post-punk era. Over this jittery backing, Ms. Cheng and Ms. Lowenstein sing interlocking lines with a chilly detachment, as words dissolve into syllables and meaning is found in sound rather than language. Their approach to singing—distant in terms of phrasing and affect, yet charged with melodic beauty—evokes the continental cool of Stereolab, one of the group's acknowledged influences, and is one of the LP's distinguishing features. Horsegirl's debut album was recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago, the studio founded by legendary engineer Steve Albini, who gave Nirvana's third studio album its serrated edge. On 'Phonetics On and On,' they recorded at The Loft, the home base of Wilco, with Cate Le Bon, who produced the latter band's most recent LP, at the controls. The distortion pedals, so prominent on Horsegirl's first album, have been put away, and the guitar tone throughout is dry and uninflected, letting the simplicity of the riffs and the chord changes do the work. Meanwhile the basslines, indebted to the tuneful, high-on-the-neck approach of New Order's Peter Hook, are packed with catchy riffs. The beauty of the album is in how every element contributes equally—there are no lead parts and nothing is pushed to the background. Each voice and instrument occupies an equally important place in the mix.
