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.
