Prize Horse “Under Sound” Review
Future now in full.
Prize Horse are truly onto something special. Amidst a boom in popularity for seemingly any and everything that could be loosely described as “shoegaze” (and the resulting oversaturation therein), the Minneapolis band have managed to carve their own lane on their debut LP Under Sound, merging distorted walls of sound with layers of ethereal guitar arpeggios, carried along by dramatic dynamic shifts and a penchant for catchy-yet-unorthodox chord progressions. Whereas the band’s 2022 EP Welder was an incredibly impressive introduction, Under Sound shows Prize Horse hitting their stride and becoming the band that was hinted at by their previous work.
Album opener “Dark Options” is a somber and contemplative start to the record, with enveloping melodies ebbing and flowing until the song explodes into a wall of morose beauty for the massive final refrain. First single and album highlight “Your Time” follows with a strong and driving bass and drum groove. The hook on this track is tense and brooding, capitalizing on the reprieve of the song’s more melodic and subdued verses. This uneasy feeling transitions effortlessly into “Further From My Start,” whose pulsing rhythms resolve in some seriously eerie chord progressions that somehow don’t derail how catchy this song is - a feat, given that the track is also full of structural surprises in its (just shy of) three and a half minute runtime.
Title track “Under Sound” slows things down a bit, allowing its hypnotic verses to resolve so seamlessly into one hell of a chorus, complete with a lightning-in-a-bottle guitar riff to back an incredible vocal hook. As a whole, the vocals on Under Sound are more of a focal point than most other bands under the shoegaze umbrella would dare, presenting some anthemic vocal performances atop the band’s monolithic walls of sound. The following track “Leave It” is no exception to this, as the more subdued instrumental allows the vocals space to truly shine. The song’s heartbreaking choruses tell of the struggle to find lasting positive interactions, resulting in loved ones feeling more like occupants in the narrator’s space. This emphasis on emotion is a common thread throughout every facet of the track, resulting in possibly the most climactic ending to any song on the record.
The back half of Under Sound sees the band strategically ease off of the tension slightly in moments like the bright and mesmerizing standout “Rev,” only to return to tracks like the ominous beast that is “Stone,” with its walls of fuzz and distortion resulting in another example of some incredibly interesting choices in chord progressions that somehow manage to be equal parts unnerving and undeniably catchy.
The record comes to a close with the enthralling and crushingly beautiful “Know Better,” followed by the dreamy and dreary finale “Awake for It.” “Know Better” is the band doing what they do best - a multifaceted masterpiece that covers miles of sonic territory in its short runtime, somehow managing to not only be one of the loudest moments on the record, but also one of the most overwhelmingly melodic. “Awake for It” sees Prize Horse strip away the layers of distortion in favor of acoustic guitar and lap steel, resulting in a bleak-yet-angelic track that is truly the perfect ending to the album.
On Under Sound, Prize Horse have created the kind of debut album that every band hopes to - unapologetically their own, astoundingly ambitious, and executed like a band with many more years of songwriting under their belt. Emotionally intense, yet still succinct in its runtime, Under Sound never has the ability to overstay its welcome, and is sure to be an early contender for Album of the Year. The groundwork has successfully been laid for Prize Horse to have a long and lasting career, and if the promise on display in these ten tracks is any indicator, this is only the beginning.
9/10
