Since they began as a bedroom-tiny lo-fi trio,
Horse Jumper of Love have grown into something bigger without losing the fragile core of their sound or tipping the balance between restraint and untrammeled emotion that made their releases before 2022's
Natural Part so inspiring. This time around, they've moved up a step to middle fidelity, added some studio polish around the edges, plugged in the occasional bit of classy cello playing, and basically moved the entire operation to a less scruffy part of town. This bit of scrubbing and buffing allows Dimitri Giannopoulos' vocals to shine brightly as he emotes gymnastically, telling tales of retribution, late nights in shared housing, growing up desperate, and living through tricky relationships. The rhythm section of bassist John Margaris and drummer Jamie Vadala-Doran also benefit from the bigger sound, booming and crashing somewhat majestically as they anchor the alternately jangling and raw riffing guitar. Giannopoulos sounds like he's made a leap forward in that regard, wielding exactly the sound the song needs to make it pop. Tender tracks like "Chariots" and "Mask" benefit from well-placed arpeggios and the subtle use of pedals, louder songs like "Sitting on the Porch at Night" clang emphatically, and not a few tunes feature some fine quiet/loud dynamics where the guitar works up to a gentle roar at the apex. Throughout the album the trio pay tribute to slowcore icons like
Low and
Codeine while working in a little bit of sleepcore à la
Bedhead and a bit of
Duster-style spacecore too. At the same time, they bring enough of their own lyrical quirks, odd chord changes, and idiosyncratic song structures to make this a 100-percent
Horse Jumper experience and not some kind of slowcore revival trick. Sure, it helps to know all about the originators of the sound, but it's just as easy for a neophyte to get swept up in the ebb and flow of the volume, tempo, and emotion here.
Natural Part is a huge leap forward for the band, one that reaches new heights of sound and vision while tapping into the same deep emotions that their early work did. ~ Tim Sendra