Often, a single sentence can say more than a manifesto spanning several pages. Especially when it is repeated, rewritten, and allowed to take on a life of its own. A phrase written two centuries ago can suddenly sound like a commentary on the present. A handful of words can become a refrain, an axis around which entirely new meanings begin to accumulate.
Horse Lords’ new album begins with such a phrase. Drawn from the nineteenth-century hymn, published in The Sacred Harp – one of the most enduring traditions of American sacred music – the line “We seek a city yet to come” becomes the album’s conceptual and sonic centre of gravity. Sung by Nina Guo and Evelyn Saylor, it is looped, stretched, fragmented, and subjected…
Tag Archive: Horse Lords
The Brooklyn-based RVNG label has been putting out installments of their FRKWYS series since 2009, pairing artists across generations and letting creative sparks fly. It was barely more than happenstance that led to Arnold Dreyblatt working with an avant-rock quartet from Baltimore, but the result couldn’t be more natural. It fits neatly into the discographies of both Horse Lords and Dreyblatt, yet neither one would’ve produced anything quite like this on their own.
Horse Lords have reached a sizable audience by taking arcane elements – ’60s minimalism and just intonation – and transmuting them into something that, if not danceable, will get your foot tapping. While they take their tuning system seriously–altoist Andrew Bernstein has gone…