Review: Horsegirl — Phonetics On and On
Music
Horsegirl
Phonetics On and On
Matador Records
Street: 02.14.25
Horsegirl = Nico/The Velvet Underground + Lush + Sonic Youth + Wes Anderson
Horsegirl consists of 3 gen Z’ers that found a wayback machine and beamed themselves back to 1995 in the middle of generation X. The trio rummaged around long enough to gather up all the nervous angst, noise rock aesthetics and that mid-’90s cool, and beamed themselves right back to 2025. Horsegirl threw it all into their sophomore effort, Phonetics On And On, and managed to construct a record that sounds like a modern, quirky recreation of The Velvet Underground.
Horsegirl is made up of two guitarists, Penelope Lowenstein and Nora Cheng, with drummer Gigi Reece. Lowenstein and Cheng trade off lo-fi vocals both sounding like two different renditions of Nico, and their duel guitars echo J. Mascis and the early R.E.M. Jangle of Peter Buck. Reece keeps the beat simple but is never lost in the songs.
This record has a strong presence of non-lexical vocables, which is a form of nonsense syllables used in music. From Fa, la, la, to Sha, na, na to Obli de obla da. Non-lexical vocables have forever been infused in pop music. The Police used it in the song De, do, do, do, de da, da, da, Suzanne Vega used it for the hook in Tom’s Diner and the German synth pop band Trio had a hit with Da, da, da.
On the track “Information Content” Horsegirl use this technique to perfection. “I’ve come to comfort, shutting doors (Da, da, da) / I wish I could, I do, I do, I do (Da, da, da) / But I just sing Ah-hoo, Ah-hoo, Ah-hoo” Lowenstein and Cheng’s vocals buzz around like busy honey bees.
The most addictive track on this record is “2468.” It’s a simple song that is impossible to get out of your head. “Two, four, six, eight / They walk in two’s / Da, da, da, da, da / They walk in two’s / Two, Four, Six, eight.” Horsegirl use non-lexical vocables like musical notes out of an instrument, like a jazz scat.
“To have the same dream three times a week / Favors too big for you to keep,” Lowenstein and Cheng sing on the very minimalistic track “Julie.” “I have so many mistakes to make / Mistakes to make with you, you know I want them too.” “Julie” is a song Lou Reed would have killed to have written, and Lowenstein and Cheng sing with his same dry nonchalance.
On the stand out track “Switch Over,” Horsegirl continues the repetition without the non-lexical vocable, the [chorus] of “Switch Over (switch off) is repeated 12X. Horsegirl brings the non-lexical vocables back briefly in the [refrain] and ends with an [outro] similar to the chorus. This track best exemplifies the magic of the record with the dueling vocals and guitars — like best friends finishing each other’s sentences.
Phonetics On And On is a skattershot, subtly noisy and playful record. It contains a breath of darkness that sometimes lurks around the edges looking in. If Wes Anderson directed an album, that album would be Horsegirl’s Phonetic On And On. You can close your eyes and imagine any song on this record in any Wes Anderson film and it would fit perfectly. I would love that collaboration. Horsegirl rule the school. Da, da, da. —Russ Holsten
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