Wednesday, December 14, 2011

STN Albums Of The Year no.17: I Break Horses - Hearts

Some have attempted to shoehorn Stockholm duo I Break Horses into the 'nu-gaze' scene on the basis of their electronic washes and sequencers, but that's to underestimate the very human emotion invested into the machines. The layers of processed noise effects pulse and shimmer with a certain degree of heart, swelling with emotion and seductively winding down while somehow still keeping its internal pulse alive. The delicacy with which a track like I Kill Love, Baby! (alright, some of the titles kind of spoil the mood) slowly builds with church-like hymnality that conveys an underlying sadness can't be done by setting up a laptop to full MBV/M83 blast and retreating, after all. It's all in the very basics of feeling that this rises above the cliched norm.

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