Hi everyone, Takethony Walktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of the new horsegiirL album, NATURE IS HEALING.

This is the debut full-length LP from German producer, DJ, singer, songwriter, horse — horsegiirL. Over the last several years, horsegiirL has had one of the most charming and also interesting rises in the world of electronic music. I've seen everything from a packed live performance where pretty much half the audience was dressed as farm animals and cowboys, to comment sections full of haters talking about how she's like, a sign of the art form that they love being dead or becoming a joke or something. As if she is the fourth horsewoman of the apocalypse.

I will say, though, horsegiirL's breakout singles definitely did have a bit of a kitschy sensibility about them, an additional layer of humor, even if they were tastefully produced, danceable jams. Whether it's "My Barn My Rules" or "Eat, Sleep, Slay, Repeat," for me the carefree and tongue-in-cheek attitude was a part of the total package. Plus, since the release of those songs, it's been entertaining to see how many ways horsegiirL can kind of worldbuild around the persona.

I think we got our first inklings of exactly that with 2025's v.i.p. or, very important pony, which was an okay start, but still had some underwhelming cuts on it to my ears, and sort of left me wondering what exactly makes horsegiirL special as a songwriter and a producer versus a character. And while NATURE IS HEALING is not a perfect project by far, I do think we get a better sense of that here. Because horsegiirL is broadening the vision of this project topically beyond mere horseplay and anthropomorphism.

This record, in so many ways, is about Mother Nature herself. Earth. Rivers. Plants. Space, fungi, etc.— even touches of spirituality and also evolutionary biology. It's ambitious and all-encompassing, to say the least. And I would sort of say the same for this record stylistically as well, as I think horsegiirL attempts to give us, musically speaking — electronic musically speaking — a little bit of everything, but with mixed results. And "an apple a day," which was a teaser to this record, for example, is a rowdy, driving piece of hardstyle, with thumping kicks, lots of distortion, silly vocal drops, really that trademark horsegiirL schtick, the same kind of chaotic energy she brought to the table on some of those breakout tracks, but magnified by five.

But she somehow does just as well on tracks that emotionally, vibe-wise, are like the polar opposite. Be it "connect the dots," which is like a dreamy, slow-mo, New Jack Swing cut, with gorgeous synth layers, alluring vocal harmonies, and some talk-sung passages, too, as well as some smooth jazz sax touches that are actually pretty tasteful. Then the song "AURA" is, like, about a metaphysical romance. Some might call it hyperpop, but I think its influences are a bit more informed than that. Sorta seems like horsegiirL was very much aware of the early days of PC Music's bubblegum bass trends. This track is loaded with all sorts of squishy, absurd drops, with some very ingeniously placed dolphin and bubble one-shots, overly robotic and auto-tuned lead vocals that play very well into this sound too.

And while I know horsegiirL has touched down on trance music before, with "hands hands hands" I think we are getting her best track in this direction, with more sensual, entrancing layers of synths, beats, and vocals. Touches of Europop accordion here and there as well. I'm even appreciating some of the subtle Kylie Minogue nods that we're getting here and there too, something I think she flies a lot closer to on tracks like "only the best" as well as "take me to venus," which is a blissful dance-pop cut whose Y2K-era vibes are sure to do well on the dance floor this year, even if the vocals aren't maybe as strong as I would like.

So, in this pretty dense tracklist, there are definitely hits, but surely there are misses too? And yeah, there are, because unfortunately I do think the momentum of this record is lost a little bit on some of these more conceptual cuts that don't really add that much to the overall experience.

Like "fun guy fungi," which is a mostly instrumental interlude that I think could have been pared down a little bit. Also, the title track, which I appreciate the messaging of, but much of its mix is eaten up by all of these heavy-handed frog and owl and various nature sound effect samples that do a lot to bog down the songwriting and musicality of the track, no matter how hard horsegiirL tries to bend them to the groove of the song. These elements are not as tastefully peppered in like they are on many other tracks here, weirdly.

There's also "karma is," which I wish was, honestly, a lot longer. At the start, the track feels like it's mounting this masterful, playful, jittery airy remix of, like, a Björk mid-2000s art pop epic, and it builds up so much tension and then just, like, completely rug pulls at the end without any sufficient payoff.

The final moments of the record as well, I think, are a little weak too, outside of the actual closing track, which, while not the most explosive or visceral song on this project, is pretty lengthy, immersive, and brings things all back around to the music thematically.

Look, with this horsegiirL project overall, I do think we got a very hefty amount of jams that are gonna sound great in a live setting this year, and I do think the tracklist here has a lot going for it in terms of, like, thematic and lyrical focus. horsegiirL really wrote out in great detail this whole nature theme concept and followed through with it on pretty much every song here. But outside of that, it still feels like some of the horsegiirL persona and performance kinks are still being worked out, like in terms of how serious or sort of tongue-in-cheek are we going to be at any given time.

What exactly are horsegiirL's musical and genre specialties? Because as we go further along, it's just getting broader and broader, going from hardstyle to bubblegum bass to trance to Y2K-era pop. And some of these lanes horsegiirL feels more comfortable in than others. Then there's the fact that I feel like she's leaning more into her singing voice with this project, but sometimes it's maybe a bit too faint or nasally to command the sort of attention that I think she might be going for on songs that have a more emotional or romantic component to them.

All of that being said, I still liked a lot of NATURE IS HEALING and I'm still very much in awe of the act that horsegiirL is putting on, which is why I'm feeling a strong 6 to a light 7 on this record.

Anthony Fantano. horsegiirL. Forever.