The Breakdown
Breathing an air of vitality and a barbed-wire edginess into the oft creaky old bones of rock n roll, the superb Horsegirl, have followed up their stunning debut ‘Versions of Modern Performance’ (out through Matador Records/Remote Control Records and still superglued to my turntable) with a collection of demos and and outtakes, all recorded entirely via phone voice memos.
The result is charmingly ramshackled and chaotic but a valuable glimpse into the genetic core of the band – bold, unadorned and above all creative, threaded with an unbounded joy for playing music. Their enthusiasm positively radiates through the recordings and into your heart.
The tracklist includes an early version of ‘World Of Pots And Pans’ with the band members swapping their respective instruments (‘Emma Swapped Instruments’), an 8-minute choral keyboard improv (‘Philip Glass’), a feedback-drenched performance of ‘Anti-glory’ (‘Anti-glory = Early Demo’), a brilliant and visceral guitar rendition of Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer Love’, and a previously unheard acoustic song called ‘This Is A Song About My Ex (2018)’ – a charming acoustic romp that puts on display the band’s sense of whacky fun.
No doubt a treasure for those seeking completeness, this is an intriguing and fascinating insight into the band at play, behind the scenes, stripped of adornment and guise:
‘Rough Trade Super-Disc’ is available to download and stream here, with a Rough Trade exclusive one-sided 12” available.
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