I Break Horses – "Death Engine"
In January 2014, the Swedish synth outfit I Break Horses released their sophomore album, Chiaroscuro. Though I Break Horses had already garnered some praise for their shoegaze-indebted debut Hearts, Chiaroscuro was even more exciting — in songs like “Faith” and “Ascension,” they crashed shoegaze and dream-pop and synth-pop together in dense, psychedelic electronic soundscapes. If those kinds sounds work on you, it was a gorgeous album. And then, aside from unexpectedly popping up on a highlight from Lushlife’s 2016 album Ritualize called “The Waking World,” I Break Horses sort disappeared for the second half the decade.
Well, it turns out Maria Lindén was still working on I Break Horses music, albeit in a slower-burn approach. After Chiaroscuro, she wanted to force herself to write differently; she began watching her favorite movies on mute, writing her own sounds to them. It kicked f what sounds like quite a process to finish another album. “It has been some time in the making,” Lindén explains in a press release. “About five years, involving several studios, collaborations that didn’t work out, a crashed hard drive with about two years work, writing new material again instead trying to repair it. New studio recordings, erasing everything, then recording most the album myself at home… ”
All those twists and turns led Lindén to the new I Break Horses album, Warnings, which will be out on Bella Union in May. And for anyone who knows I Break Horses’ past material, you could probably already imagine something transfixing but foreboding in the title Warnings. “It’s not a political album, though it relates to the alarmist times we live in,” says Lindén. “Each song is a subtle warning something not being quite right.”
Along with the announcement, I Break Horses have shared a new single called “Death Engine.” Lindén wrote that the song was composed “in connection to a close friend’s suicide attempt, and] also reflects upon the increasing reports that suicide is the Gen Z second leading cause death, with the group having more mental health issues than any other generation.”
Musically, “Death Engine” is a heavy, moving reintroduction to I Break Horses. It’s a sprawling six minute track, Lindén first singing a melody that feels like a classic ’80s pop song, but one drenched in all this contemporary digital haze. There are huge synth breaks by way a chorus, and eventually the whole thing drifts out into instrumental passages that, given the inspiration the song, feel like they are reaching out to comfort someone. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard a new I Break Horses song. “Death Engine” is a beautiful thing after that wait. Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Turn”
02 “Silence”
03 “l a r m”
04 “I’ll Be The Death Of You”
05 “d e n lilla p a s e avlycka”
06 “The Prophet”
07 “Neon Lights”
08 “I Live At Night”
09 “Baby You Have Travelled For Miles Without Love In Your Eyes”
10 “Death Engine”
11 “a b s o l u t a m o l l p u n k t e n”
12 “Depression Tourist”
Warnings is out 5/8 Bella Union. Pre-order it here.