I Break Horses Break No New Ground

Swedish act I Break Horses released their debut album, Hearts, back in 2011. Full of fuzzy a, processed beats and dreamy vocals I remember being fairly impressed when I first listened to it, but by no means blown away. I then caught them at a festival in the summer of 2012 and was completely blown away. Everything got drenched in loads of noise, and it really changed my mind about the band. It’s a shame that with their sophomore album, Chiaroscuro, they seem intent on changing my mind back. Opening track You Burn sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s fine. It just doesn’t do anything exciting. There’s no noise, the processed beats are far quieter than they were on the debut and there’s synths all over the shop. It does have a nice ethereal atmosphere, it’s quite pretty, and you know, it doesn’t offend me at all. The thing is, I want the music I listen to be a few rungs above inoffensive. Sadly, there are even a few moments where it drops a bit below inoffensive. The seven minutes of Heart To Know are just really tedious. Dreary dream pop that goes absolutely nowhere is bad enough when it is a normal length track, but seven minutes? Fuck that. Berceuse is also really mundane, whilst Faith left me pretty numb. There are a few better tracks here. Disclosure is a really great slice of dreamy electro-pop, whilst Weigh True Worlds is an exciting upbeat pop number that really works (even if it sounds more like Robyn than My Bloody Valentine). The highlight is definitely Denial. A sleek sexy electro-pop number drenched in reverb, this one is simultaneously really beautiful texturally, and also really danceable. It’s the sort of track that works just as well on the playlist for a quiet night as it would a house party (assuming you host fairly hipster house parties). The album is perhaps best summed up with my opinions on the other seven minute track, Medicine Brush. The beats sound great, the synth lines are interesting and the dreamy textures are great. However, the beats are hidden away when they should be given the lead, the synths dominate everything, even when they’re not the most interesting part, and the texture gets a bit numbing after seven minutes. This album has a lot of potential, and it would take a few minor changes in mixing to make it really good. With louder beats, a bit of noise here and there and trimming down the seven minute tracks this would be an absolutely fantastic album. Sadly, I Break Horses clearly don’t agree with my stylistic wishes for the record and so I’ll have to make do with it being all right. Maybe I need to catch them live again for this one to click, but certainly for now, I’m back to thinking I Break Horses are just another run of the mill dream pop band, which is a real shame.