Chicago trio Horsegirl have announced details their second album, Phonetics On And On, alongside a striking video for the hooky first single ‘2468’. The album was produced by Cate Le Bon and will be released on Febuary 14th 2025.
‘2468’ is a minimal, pin-sharp track that pairs lockstep rhythmic chants with rattling percussion. it brims with playful experimentation. Raincoats-like violin parts, building stealthily towards a head-spinning motorik crescendo, that echoes early Velvet Underground. It eschews the denser noise pop found on their debut album and offers great promise for their new long player.
Much has changed for Horsegirl since their acclaimed 2022 debut – they relocated to New York where Penelope and Nora would attend NYU, and it was the first time they wrote music outside of Penelope’s parents’ basement. Through this period of transition, the band turned inwards – they write with unanticipated honesty, leading us through scenes of girlhood and youth, shared experiences stemming from the fact that Horsegirl is audibly a band of best friends.
Phonetics On And On was recorded over two weeks in January 2024 in the band’s native Chicago’s The Loft studio at the peak of winter. With the heating off to avoid sound interference, the band were bundled in multiple sweaters and sitting on their hands between takes and found the kind of focus and intimacy that can only arise from it being too cold to go outside. They followed Le Bon into brighter, clearer sonic territories that highlight the intuitive and off-kilter nature of the songs: instead of filling them out with distortion, the trio of Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein and Gigi Reece utilize the expanse, playing with space and texture within pop song structures. They incorporate new tools to bring this world to life: violins, synths, gamelan tiles, to marked effect.
TRACKLIST
- Where’d You Go
- Rock City
- In Twos
- 2468
- Well I Know You’re Shy
- Julie
- Switch Over
- Information Content
- Frontrunner
- Sport Meets Sound
- I Can’t Stand To See You
TOUR DATES
Sat. Feb. 22 – Chicago, IL @ Metro (Record Release Show)
Fri. Mar. 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church %
Sat. Mar. 22 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat %
Sun. Mar. 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings %
Mon. Mar. 24 – Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse %
Wed. Mar. 26 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom %
Thu. Mar. 27 – Somerville, MA @ Arts at The Armory %
Fri. Mar. 28 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater %
