With the sweet relief of exams finished and freedom firmly established, we headed off to Manchester for the weekend. Following a day in the Northern Quarter, filled with grilled cheeses and pints – our final destination was to see the Chicago trio Horsegirl (a band I had been following for a couple of years) at Band on the Wall.

Strolling onto the stage with a few waves, the audience acknowledgement was over quickly and traded for a pensive concentration of sound. I was struck genuinely by how totally cool and collected the band remained throughout their set. With an average age of 20 and a half (and after my own heart) – both guitarists are currently English Majors at NYU, whilst drummer Gigi Reece waits for them to graduate. Nonchalant energy radiated constantly from Penelope Lowenstein and Nora Cheng, who favoured minimal chat with the crowd for focus and precision in their playing.

“Horsegirl thankfully still maintain their characteristic deadpan delivery”

Following the release of their second album, Phonetics On and On (produced by Cate Le Bon) the group have both sonically and visually honed their aesthetic as a band. In anticipation of the gig, I had noticed a new attention and turn on the artwork and image surrounding their album and tour. Horsegirl pull visual inspiration from antique hooked rugs and the lovely ‘artful cats’ section of the Smithsonian Public Domain (as revealed on their Perfectly Imperfect profile). The trip sported a great array of outfits including ringer t-shirts, tweed culottes and Lowenstein in a wonderful sailor shirt purchased the night before in London. However, under Le Bon’s guidance, the band have certainly turned their sound down across their new tracks. But however stripped back their new album seems in comparison to their debut, Horsegirl knowingly and thankfully still maintain their characteristic deadpan delivery

With waddling non-lexicals (“2468, they walk in twos… da da da da da da da da” etc!) and through repeated lyrics, the band meditate on awkward crushes, boredom, and loneliness. Employing a few bemusing, but creative fixes during the set, Lowenstein taped down keys on the synth and balanced an iPhone on another to hold down a note for the song ‘Julie’ (a one note pop song, as Lou Reed’s old saying goes). These sort of (silly) experimental techniques reminded me of the twee energies of Stereolab, or Electrelane, or even the great Cate Le Bon herself. Horsegirl’s sound (particularly on the newest album) has a charming naivety to it, with tunes that somehow unite and play with the stilted gap between childhood and adulthood. It’s songs like ‘Frontrunner’ that exude the juvenile qualities of a nursery rhyme, songs that wouldn’t be out of place amongst The Moldy Peaches’ soundtrack to Juno (2007).

“Tunes that somehow unite and play with the stilted gap between childhood and adulthood”

The smaller vocals on the new album were momentarily pushed aside towards the end of their set for the trio’s “break out single” ‘Anti-Glory’ – a song marked by shouts of “Dance!”, drones of guitar and beats of drums. Their Sonic Youth influence (stronger in their debut album Versions of Modern Performance, with Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley features) is still not hard to miss, and shines through in patches of rougher guitar solos and punchy vocals on the new album. By veering partially to change direction from the distortion of a more fuzzy indie-rock debut to produce an minimalistic album full of clear cadences simply proves how dynamic and interesting the band are together. Despite being written and recorded in the freezing depths of Chicago’s winter, Phonetics On and On really should be played in summertime. Their newest album is one I can’t wait to listen to blasting from my record player into the garden.

Again, it’s not a review written by me if I don’t have some sort of complaint to make about the audience regular Radio 6 dads, of whom were scattered through a crowd mostly (!) formed of students. A nice bunch moved to let us stand in front of them, but in typical fashion, it was two others that went in for the set list. The dads fought over it momentarily before Cheng, who waved it about… and then decidedly ripped it in two and handed them each a half.

Stupidly finishing with a teased encore that never actually ended up happening, (cutting in and out of The Magnetic Field’s ‘Strange Powers’) seeing Horsegirl live rooted their status in my eyes as a true indie ‘Frontrunner’!