ALBUM REVIEW: Horse Lords – The Common Task

Northern Spy

Released: 13.03.20

Horse Lords’ fourth album proper starts with a Bugs Bunny-esque sound effect before easing into the bewildering 5/8 time rhythm of Fanfare For Effective Freedom. It closes with Integral Accidents’ near three-minute crescendo, a single tone getting higher and more threatening.

In between is 40 minutes of the most thrilling and original music you’ll hear all year. Horse Lords take elements of free jazz, minimalism, North African guitar, New York No Wave and The Ex and come up with something entirely their own.

For all the high falutin’ talk about algorithms and tunings that accompany their music, there’s nothing forbidding here – simply the sound of a tight AF rhythm section and some dazzling guitar and sax work that is genuinely exciting.