The heart of An Horse’s magic is rubbery and elastic. Rows of
slinky, hypnotic spirals, widening middle-out. They’ve never spun to
more vibrant and dynamic impact than on their third album Modern Air.
Loosely from
wherever-you’re-seeing-them-play-tonight-by-way-of-Brisbane-to-
Montreal-and-New-York, Kate & Damon woke up from a six-year nap to
make their best, broadest and most accomplished album, doubling-down
on and clarifying their strongest strengths while casually developing
and showcasing a career’s-worth of new ones. Before their 6 year
break, An Horse were 2 albums into their career and touring non-stop
with the likes of Tegan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie, Silversun
Pickups, Nada Surf, & Cage the Elephant, when a series of distracting
life events forced them into a hiatus of sorts. That hiatus led to an
extended break from touring and recording that’s finally ending with
their 2019 album Modern Air. The songs on their new record manage to
be both propulsive and loping, lean mission statements about
negotiating modern living easter-egged with intelligence and humour,
melodic and percussive ear candy, heart and teeth, hope and anger.
They sound like themselves, two-headed and singularly focused, a
particularly effective evolutionary step in a long tradition of of
guitar-based indie-rock, angular in spaces, jangly in others,
sometimes both at the same time. They take a familiar vocabulary and
teach it new words, one sugary harmony barbed-wired to unflinching
insight at a time. Modern Air is An Horse at their most realized, and
it’s right on time. Some naps are worth taking
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The Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Road, Marrickville, New South Wales 2204, Marrickville, Australia
105 Victoria Rd, Marrickville, 2204, NSW, AU