Horse Party - Scarlet & Blue - Download (2013)

Labels: self released
Review by: C. Kuzmiski

Press releases are funny, funny things. Horse Party’s is no exception. Filled with the usual “œband sounds like no-one else” and of course “œtwin guitar/vocal attack”. It’s quite charming in its predictability. The copy claims they are “˜impossible to categorise’. You could say that, or you could say: the disgruntled Fleetwood Mac at the rock revival “” who like Mazzy Star. Which isn’t impossible to categorise.



It’s a ballsy move releasing a live EP so early on. As a coup it actually works very well. The audio comes out pleasingly unpolished, in a way that sounds as exciting, as 2014 “˜indie’ production doesn’t. As an advertising gimmick it also works as, I kind of want to go and see them now.



Opener “˜Back to Mono’ (is that a mission statement, should we regress that far, where does lo-fi stop?) is all stamping and immediate and distorted in a way that you hope they don’t lighten up anytime soon. “˜Scarlet & Blue’ channels the bands most accurate 90s 4AD worship. It really couldn’t sound anymore like that; hesitant guitars, stark dynamics and “˜twin vocal attack’. They slightly let themselves down with some guitar shop blues on final track “˜Six’. Remember kids, no one actually likes the blues, no one that can’t play guitar anyway.



Unfortunately, Horse Party are bound to be considered to have missed-the-boat of the NME Americana rawk boom of yesteryear. Who gives a fuck about that though? They are good enough to amass a fanbase of people who actually like them for being an interesting rock band, and there aren’t many of them about.