Humans have become too accustomed to language. Our ears forget to listen to the musical and emotional intricacies holding words up. Horsegirl attempts to teach us this in its new album, “Phonetics On and On,” released on Feb. 14.
In the synopsis, the band writes “the two weeks in 2024 that we spent recording [the album] were some of the coldest days in Chicago that year.” With so many compositional layers, I imagine the vowels and consonants of every song like blankets, the noises bundling together to bring each other warmth as they are released from warm mouths into the frigid air.
Since the release of its former album “Versions of Modern Performance,” the band relocated to New York for college, seeing even harsher winters. The first song to take a brave step into the cold is “Where’d You Go?”
As Gigi Reece’s drums mimic frantic running and Penelope Lowenstein’s guitar takes on an upbeat, childish melody, there is a sense of anticipation and wonder from a new city. Nora Cheng asks, “Where’d you go?” to which the response is “Far, far, far away.” This repeats throughout the entire song, often overlapped by “la-da-da-das.”
Cheng and Reece keep the piece from becoming boring despite the repetitive musical and verbal phrases — an effort achieved by using phonetics and seemingly meaningless sounds to embellish the melody. They also symbolically fill the space of a future unknown to the new residents.
This sense of ambiguity and uncertainty spreads through the rest of the album, vaguely hinting at the loss of a hometown and sense of belonging.
“2468” copes with this by taking comfort in the warmth of childhood amidst the chill of adulthood. Opening with the artistically sloppy drawl of a string instrument, it has a childlike, nostalgic quality.
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Only two intelligible phrases are repeated for the entire three minutes and 17 seconds: “2-4-6-8” and “They walk in twos,” which innocently chronicles the partnership in friendship.
After that, there are only “da-da-da-das,” which inherently mean nothing, making them mean everything. Our childhoods are marked by nonsensical moments, from babbling in diapers to petty recess fights. But these slivers of life are the purest of us.
Memories from early life are too fickle and visceral to be captured by words. Horsegirl instead tells these stories through floating consonants and vowels.
As the album continues through time and life, it introduces more words and phrases. “Information Content” follows the structure of any other song, oscillating between several different lyrics.
The closer, however, is the paramount piece of the album. “I Can’t Stand to See You” is the only song in the album with a explicit message and purpose. It immediately opens with the jab of Cheng asking, “Do you want to go home now?”
Unlike the rest of the album, it lacks obscurity, rooted in the present feeling of missing home with clear depictions like, “Just another block now / we’ll shake hands goodbye now.” Specificity is an adult’s privilege, and so is missing home.
There is still phonetics littered here and there, reminding us that we are still children at heart, longing for home.
Despite how alienating adult reality can become, Horsegirl communicates that we will always have the choice to abandon adult hardships and restrictions, even momentarily.