Hi, everyone. Weethony Hatano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Horsegirl album, Phonetics On and On.

Here we have the second full-length album from Chicago band Horsegirl. Not to be confused with electronic music artist HorsegiirL, or rival indie rock outfits that also have horse in their name like Feeble Little Horse. No, this is a different Horsegirl, one that has been around for several years right now, at least, as this album is a new effort they have put together for Matador Records and the follow-up to their 2022 record, Versions of Modern Performance, an album that drummed up a decent amount of buzz for them at the time and fit pretty nicely into this trend of very loose, revivalist, slacker rock outfits with a real '90s flair to their sound. Definitely an the appeal to this album with a few post-punky flares here and there, too.

And while the songwriting and performances on this record weren't exactly blowing me away, it was a pretty solid debut all around for what it was. The occasional noisy and chaotic guitar passage, too. Again, the record wasn't perfect, but there was a somewhat interesting combination of influences going on here that I think made Horsegirl a band to watch into the future.

Also, I will say in the lead up to this new album here, the band did a pretty great job of piquing my interest with some really great teasers. I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying the entirety of this record a lot more than I did its predecessor. Due to its weirder sound, a wider variety of influences and improved songwriting, too. However, if you did happen to get onto the Horse Girl bandwagon due mostly to that slacker rock style that they had going on their debut, that has pretty much been let go of for the most part on this record. Rest in peace to all of the '90s nostalgias because on this new LP, the band is leaning a lot more into their underground influences that hail from the UK.

I will remind people, again, this band supposedly hails from Chicago, and yet they sound like some indie twee pop rock outfit from the late '70s, early '80s that would have made waves on the London music scene around that time. Even down to how the lyrics on this record are sung. I'm thinking bands like Dolly Mixture as well as Television Personalities, even groups in that genre from our side of the pond over here like Beat Happening, bands that really have that homespun pop rock sound and super rudimentary instrumental approach.

But then in addition to that, I'll say some of the guitar work on this thing, while still noisy, is occasionally very minimal, repetitive, especially on tracks where the band is really locking into a groove, like on "Switch Over" as well as "2468". Moments like this really read to me as being influenced by any number of classic krautrock albums or even bands such as Wire that are on that early art punk wave, which leads to a rock sound that's very punky and raw and organic.

But simultaneously, the performances are polite and measured and very gentle on the ears. Some of the more laid back cuts on this record also ring of very early Modest Mouse. Meanwhile, the more intimate tracks are earnest like a Moldy Peaches ballad, something along those lines.

Look, I know I'm making a million comparisons and references here throughout this review, and I don't mean to overload you guys or make this album seem like it's all over the place or that it has no real voice or vision or focus. In fact, I would like to illustrate the exact opposite here. What I'm trying to say is despite the band pulling from a disparate array of sounds, they still come through with a very consistent album and that they have more going on than you might think, given the humble presentation of a lot of the tracks on this record, as they're clearly students of the very cerebral and rudimentary sound that they're trying to pull together here.

In the underground, there is a historical artistic precedent for this thing, and I just happen to think the band embraces this vibe very well. Whether you're talking about the hyped tom hits and chord changes all over the intro track or the creaky string hits that lock in with the rhythm guitars over these super forlorn refrains on "In Twos". I've also been loving the spunky and cute grooves and plucked bass on the track, "Well I Know You're Shy". The adorable lovey-dovey lyrics on that track are really a selling point. The song also further digs down into this persistent lyrical theme throughout the record of things being in twos or coming in twos, something I think is also echoed to a degree on the even more endearing "Julie", which is a very sweet slow burner on the album that also seems to be coming from a place that's very crushy, voicing sentiments of wanting to make mistakes with this person, which I think is really cute given that it frames the idea of love as not always being perfect, having those moments where you are working through something and struggling, and you still want to be with this person through those times, too, not just the good times.

"Information Content" is another track that instrumentally is really doing a lot with a a little. The melodies on this one absolutely snap, despite the fact that they're not really being held together by much more than these very understated vocals and super simplistic guitar lines and basic drums.

"Frontrunner" is one moment, songwriting-wise, I'm not super crazy about. I do think the ending fizzles out, but vibe-wise, I do think the instrumentation here would fit perfectly for a pensive scene during some 2000s indie film.

"Sport Meets Sound" has more of a rocking finale to it that I do think, stylistically, the band is painting themselves a little bit into a corner by this point in the tracklist. But the closing track is a very hype finish that has these nice little sloppy, beautiful chord touches from some keys going on with the guitars, which just goes to show how much a very subtle extra layer can do on an album whose instrumentation and sound is very stark, as this really is an album that's not trying to load too much onto you.

But yeah, I've been really enjoying this record. I like the underground niche post-punky twee sound mix the band is working with on this record. They work so well creatively in these very confined limitations, and somehow some very beautiful and fun songs end up blossoming out of the rough, very rough landscape the band builds for these tracks, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on this LP.

Anthony Fantano, Horsegirl, Forever.