Ballroom Dance Scene

 

If the raves that I found in the late-2020/early-2021 music press are any indication, I'm a little late to the party for this one, but I want you to know about this indie-rock trio from Chicago.

They're called Horsegirl, and... they're fantastic.

They're also still teenagers. And considering the musical sophistication displayed on the only three songs they've released so far -- particularly the "Ballroom Dance Scene"/"Sea Life Sandwich Boy" single -- that fact is a little mindblowing. 

The A-side is a bit like Scrawl and My Bloody Valentine getting together at Slowdive's house, but if Ohio melodic drone-meisters Wussy came over to play too on the more melodic bits. It's more atmospheric than the B-side, but the power of its repetitive, infectious riff grows louder and more insistent as the song hits its peak. And then -- pow! -- it's done. "Whoa! What in the hell was that?!" I exclaimed with wonder in my car as the Sirius XMU indie channel finished playing the song. My thoughts were elsewhere when I hit the station on, but "Ballroom..." coiled its way around my cerebral cortex, and, right before the station segued to something from some other much less dynamic artist, I caught the band name: "Horsegirl." "Well, I guess I'm checking out Horsegirl," I said to no one in particular. A quick trip to Bandcamp and Spotify told me that they only have released three songs. I listened over and over. I was hooked.

When the "Sea Life..." B-side begins, you could almost wonder why it's not the A-side. It rocks more than "Ballroom Dance Scene" -- with greater shades of, say, Echo and the Bunnymen. But, no, they got it right; it's definitely more of a B-side, or a deep album track. It's a little longer, and its repetitive riff takes a little bit more time to level you with layers and layers of distortion. But, oh, don't worry, Penelope Lowenstein, Gigi Reece, and Nora Cheng know their way around dynamics. The leveling happens in due course.

In fact, its their patience with the builds of these songs that belies their ages. Jesus, when I was all jacked up on life at age 19, my theory of how to layer a song was, er, unsubtle to say the least. There was loud and louder, and, let's be serious, loud was pretty close to louder. In contrast, the players in Horsegirl take their time, but not too much time, and, whether it's the A-side or the B-side, goddamn it they harness their considerable power well.

There's one more released Horsegirl song so far -- a beauty called "Forecast" -- but I'll let you go expend the effort to find it on Bandcamp or Spotify. Me? I'm unduly excited about the album-to-be. This band has something really special going on.