The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Dead, dead horses couldn’t drive us away in gospel style

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By Quentin Yarolem

[email protected]

The music of the band Dead Horses — whose members hail from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, of Oshkosh, B’Gosh fame — displays a healthy combination of gospel and folk influences.

The band’s lead singer, Sarah Vos, was raised by her preacher father on Bible hymns and church music, an upbringing whose effects bleed into the music she now makes.

“Most of my first interactions with music were in the church — singing old hymns and liturgy, although I think I was singing before I could even speak,” Vos said.

For this reason, gospel plays a large part in the music that Vos and Dead Horses play.

“Gospel really means good news,” Vos said. “I think there is a strong message that comes through in the songs I write.”

While what, exactly, that message is will inevitably shift depending on the listener, Vos said, in the end, she wants to say something that is both worth saying and worth hearing; something that is a reflection of her experience and her perception of the experiences of others.

The band is getting ready to release its third album, Cartoon Moon, later this month. Ken Coomer — a drummer whose esperience includes stints with Wilco and Uncle Tupelo — reached out to the band after seeing the members perform at a music festival, and offered them an opportunity to record the album in his studio.

“[Coomer] really helped guide us through the process of recording, which can be a pretty daunting thing,” Vos said. “His level of experience both in touring and in making records was really priceless to us.”

The album is a more mature, introspective collection of songs, and the band members feel that it forced them to elevate their craft to a previously unreached level.

Cartoon Moon has a more matured sound than other things we’ve done. There’s more patience and more emphasis put on the songs themselves,” she said. “There’s confidence in the fact that sometimes less is more.”

The album’s songs engage with a variety of themes, including love, hope, transcendence, brotherhood/sisterhood, and the connections between humanity and nature.

“On some level, I’m just trying to be a reflection of my own human experience and the way I imagine others to be,” she said. “I believe that music and art is unique to whoever is experiencing it.”

As the upcoming album is going to be somewhat of a thematic departure from the band’s relatively conventional previous releases, the members decided to also bring a breath of new life into their arsenal of instruments. Accordingly, the new album will feature added contributions from keyboards, percussion, and a 12-string guitar.

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