Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On review

More than thirty years on it’s still something to raise a smile; during their legendary performance at Reading in 1994, Nirvana‘s tacit acknowledgement of the similarities between Boston’s More Than A Feeling and Smells Like Teen Spirit peaked, a display of the humour the band were frequently accused of not having.

Released in 2022, Horsegirl’s first album Versions Of Modern Performance was a fuzzy amalgam of peak-era 120 minutes noise, remarkable in that the Chicagoan trio of enelope Lowenstein (bass), Gigi Reece (drums) and Nora Cheng (guitar) were barely out of high school when it was recorded. With Lowenstein and Cheng since having moved to New York – where they now share an apartment – there’s been plenty of background changes with which to prompt a change of direction, and so it has proved to be the case.

For Phonetics On and On the trio brought in Cate Le Bon to produce and decided on a simplification of their formula, despite the addition of strings and keyboards. This uncooling gives them a more direct feeling on the Roadrunner-indebted opener Where’d You Go? whilst In Twos and Well, I Know You’re Shy are on the indie side of fey. You should get yoruself ready at least though for the maddeningly addictive 2468, a licensers dream and potential big summer hit on campus. Sometimes bursting your own bubble can be all sorts of fun.

You can read a full review here.