Out Now: Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On

Horsegirl — the New York-via-Chicago trio of best friends Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece — release their second album Phonetics On and On, 11 songs which experiment with space and texture, all while maintaining a pop song at the core. These are songs to dance to. Produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at The Loft in Chicago, Horsegirl’s original and sonic home, Phonetics On and On is...

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Watch: Horsegirl – ‘Switch Over’

Horsegirl — the New York-via-Chicago trio of best friends Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece — unveil the new single/video, ‘Switch Over,’ from their upcoming second album, Phonetics On and On, out February 14th. ‘Switch Over’ feels almost motorik in its pulse as the track dances back and forth between Cheng and Lowenstein’s swapping vocals. The ‘Switch Over’ video was directed by Guy Kozak, who came to the band...

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Watch: Horsegirl – ‘Julie’

Horsegirl release new single ‘Julie’ from their upcoming second album, Phonetics On and On, out February 14th, 2025. ‘Julie’ serves as the album’s centrepiece, with synth drones acting as an ocean for Lowenstein’s vocals to sail above, all while Cheng’s wonderfully avant-garde anti-solos pierce through the woven sea. The video, directed by Amsterdam-based animator Daphna Awadish Golan, started as a month-and-a-half animation process, and represents the song’s themes of moving...

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Announced: Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On + ‘2468’

Horsegirl — the New York-via-Chicago trio of best friends Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece — announce their second album Phonetics On and On, out February 14th, and release lead single ‘2468’ alongside a video, directed by writer and filmmaker Eliza Callahan and choreographed by Alexa West. Watch below! Produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at The Loft in Chicago, the band’s original and sonic home, Phonetics On...

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Listen: Horsegirl ‘ ‘History Lesson Part 2 (Minutemen Cover)’

Following their first-ever North American tour which included a sold-out hometown show at Thalia Halland an opening slot for Pavement in New York, the Chicago-based trio now release their cover of Minutemen’s ‘History Lesson Part 2.’ While only available via a 7” in the past, the song is now available digitally for the first time today. ‘History Lesson Part 2’ “has always been a punk manifesto for us,” says Horsegirl. “It was an unusual...

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Horsegirl releases new album Versions Of Modern Performance

Chicago is baked into the core of Versions of Modern Performance out now via Matador. Cheng (she/her), Lowenstein (she/her) and Reece (they/them) learned to play—and met—through the significant network of Chicago youth arts programs, and they have their own mini-rock underground. Across the album, recorded at Chicago’s Electrical Audio with John Agnello, there’s elements of the ‘80s and ‘90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely. But as...

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Watch: Horsegirl – Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)

Chicago band Horsegirl – Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) – unveil a new single/video, ‘Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty),’ from their debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, out June 3rd. Watch below! ‘Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)’ is a scuffed up, guitar-driven piece of garage-pop. The tracks’ lyrics brim with alliteration and slanted rhymes, and as the instrumentation rises, the song rides out with a chorus of “oohs.” As a band who do everything as a...

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Listen: Horsegirl ‘World of Pots and Pans’

Horsegirl share new single and lyric video ‘World of Pots and Pans’ from their debut album Versions of Modern Performance, out June 3rd. Following the propulsive ‘Anti-glory’, ‘World of Pots and Pans’ has a rough, blown-out pop charm. Watch below! Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) do everything collectively, from songwriting to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments to sound and visual art design. Reece and Cheng, college freshmen, and Lowenstein, a high school senior,...

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Horsegirl release ‘Anti-glory’, announce debut album Versions of Modern Performance

Chicago trio Horsegirl announce their debut record, Versions of Modern Performance, out June 3rd on Matador / Remote Control, and present charged lead single/video, ‘Anti-glory’. Following last year’s one-off ‘Billy’, lead single ‘Anti-glory’ is elastic and propulsive, entrancing listeners with a central call: “Dance / Dance / Dance / Dance / With me”. The accompanying video, directed by Erin Vassilopoulous, exudes confidence, putting Horsegirl front and center, their uncanny ability to layer sound on full display. “We wrote Anti-glory almost by accident, while messing around...

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Horsegirl share new single & video ‘Billy’

Chicago’s Horsegirl, the trio of 17-19 year olds Penelope Lowenstein (she/her), Nora Cheng (she/her), and Gigi Reece (they/them), present ‘Billy’, their debut single/video via Matador / Remote Control Records.  Having only formed in 2019, Horsegirl’s first three singles captured the ears and fans and critics worldwide, garnering early support and acclaim from BBC 6 Music, Pitchfork, NME, Loud & Quiet, NPR, Stereogum, and others. Following their appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival this fall, where the trio performed for their biggest crowd yet, NYLON remarked “Horsegirl...

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Horsegirl sign to Matador Records

Chicago’s Horsegirl, the noisy rock trio of 17-18 year olds Penelope Lowenstein (she/her), Nora Cheng (she/her), and Gigi Reece (they/them), announce they’ve signed to Matador Records. In conjunction with the signing, the band will perform a free livestream concert on April 13th at 9am AEDT via Vans Channel 66. This broadcast is the first time many outside of Chicago will have the chance to see Horsegirl play live. Raised in Chicago, Lowenstein, Reece and Cheng each started playing music at a young age. Lowenstein and Cheng met through a local music program, where...

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