#matador records

Photo courtesy of Cheryl Dunn

It isn’t much of a surprise that a new band who is very promising would come out of the Chicago scene, but at the same time, Horsegirl have also managed to be eccentric to it all. They’re style sways heavily into past their label Matador’s indie rock legacy likeness, but the trio is also still young (last check, a few of the members were still in high school) to assert their gaze onto that sound from the present state, and in turn, put them into their own timeline. Lyrically, vocalist and guitarist Nora Cheng has painted their songs in non-concrete detail that is a welcome change of shape from modern indie’s over-articulated diary entries.

We’ve already heard three excellent advance singles from their debut album Versions of Modern Performancein“Billy”,“Anti-glory”, and “Worlds of Pots and Pans”, and its final preview ties the oddities rise altogether in the video for “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)”. Surrounding seasick guitars and a slightly shoegaze bend, melody sugarcoats the coming of age nostalgia in the listen and the self-directed visual recorded at guitarist Penelope Lowenstein’s elementary school, featuring members of their weird corner of the Chicago indie scene in the likes of Lifeguard, Friko, Dwaal Troupe, and Post Office Winter. They are not your average teenage “Dirtbag”, as seen and heard below…

Horsegirl’sVersions of Modern Performance will be released June 3rd on Matador Records.