I Break Horses - Warnings Review

I Break Horses have created a truly unique piece of work here and deserve praise for doing so.

I Break Horses’ new LP ‘Warnings’ is the follow-up to 2014’s lush Chiaroscuro and boy is it an interesting listen. Having sat with this album for a couple of days to truly absorb it it’s obvious that ‘Warnings’ is a massive step up from I Break Horses’ previous output. Having signed to Bella Union (No surprise it’s on Bella Union, they sure know how to pick them!) in 2011 this is I Break Horses’ third album and definitely their most sonically dense. This album is truly stunning in parts, blinding you with beautiful ethereal melodies and reverb-heavy vintage synths, organs, and guitars. I Break Horses really wear their influences on their sleeve for this record hearing a massive amalgamation of contemporaries such as Beach House, Fever Ray, and Sufjan Stevens to create a unique sound that they are well on the way to mastering.

The opening track is a 9-minute odyssey of Beach House-style arpeggios, thick with reverb, slowly building this immense level of emotion as the piece progresses. Track two ‘Silence’ is quite spacey with its cascading synth drones and harpsichord-like tones. The song really picks up towards the end with the thumping bass as ‘Lindén’ chants.

‘l a r m’ is an emotively intense minute-long Segway from ‘Silence’ to ‘I’ll be the death of you’. Usually I’m not a fan of these kind of detours but it feels like a much-needed breather after the weight of the first two tracks. ‘I’ll be the death of you’ started with funky synth sequences with keyboard chord stabs. The instrumentals between verses are where the track feels fullest, creating this immense wall of sound that drowns the listener in lush resonated noise. Only to end on horns, which feel out of place but still fit perfectly with the track. ‘d e n l i l l a p a s e a v l y’ is another short interlude — this time at two minutes. This track has found recordings of what sound like trains and a man talking. Without context this seems a bit strange but once again it seems to fit cohesively with preceding tracks.

Midway through this album you definitely feel more energy and movement in the music. ‘The Prophet’ Is the first in a string of songs that really show off the band’s creative efforts on this album. This track specifically has some really beautiful synths reminiscent of the artist Tobacco. However, I Break Horses have managed to take these sounds and add some much needed modernity to them. 

‘Neon Lights’ was the first track I heard from this album. It almost reminded me of something from Sufjan Stevens’s album ‘The Age of Adz’ (a classic if you haven’t heard). Unlike other tracks on the album, this song has a real pulse that pounds throughout the track introducing some much needed energy to this record. Unfortunately as the track progresses it loses the excitement it initially has, potentially due the track being just too long with little perceivable variety. 

‘I Live At Night’ opens with crisp loud drums and lacks the intense wall of sound from previous tracks. Lindén croons over a more sombre piece, and with the bass in this track so gorgeous and thick being a strong centrepiece instrument on the track. This is one of the more emotively resonant tracks for me. Something about it takes me somewhere sombre and familiar, akin to soundtrack music. ‘Baby You Have Travelled For Miles Without Love In Your Eyes’ is definitely a push back to the more rhythmically busy patterns of ‘Neon Lights’. This track has a really lovely structure and beautiful instrumentation. This is made true because sometimes this album reminds me of Goldfrapp records instrumentally. Vocally, Marie Lindén intermittently calls back to artists such as Victoria Legrand and Charlotte Day Wilson.

‘Death Engine’ sounds like the modern day soundtrack to an 80s John Hughes movie. Maria Lindén’s voice on this track is truly at its best. At a length of 7:51 this is the second longest track on the album and possesses a deep emotional weight accordingly. Especially when mid-song it breaks into a beautiful broken chord sequence of synths and echoing guitars, before slowly fading out into eerie, almost ominous ‘ah’s from Lindén. This is the stand out track. The next track ‘a b s o l u t a m o l l p u n k t e n’ is a short soundscape of droning synths and warm pads that have an almost spiritual atmosphere to them, though retaining the sinister vibe from the end of the previous track.

Unlike most albums with short minute or two-minute instrumentals, these tracks on this album fill a very useful purpose and almost move you from one movement of the album to another. The album ends on the track ‘Depression Tourist’ a massively auto-tuned and vocally synthesised piece of music. This track progresses the hymnal vibes of the three tracks that preceded.

Considering this album at times feels like an epic soundtrack I wasn’t surprised to find out that they had recorded some of this music whilst watching their favourite films muted. This album surely doesn’t lack ambition. I Break Horses have created a truly unique piece of work here and deserve praise for doing so. Combining some incredible sounds and ideas to create a mammoth listen that rewards with deeper reflection on the record. However, at times the album can feel quite slow and Lindén’s vocal performance can lack the immediacy and infectiousness of her contemporaries. Though considering the hodgepodge range of track lengths, arrangements, and styles it’s quite shocking how consistent this album manages to stay. There’s rarely a dull moment in the way this album has been constructed.

Taking influence from an array of contemporaries such as Beach House, Fever Ray, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Grimes, and more, ‘I Break Horses’ third album sees them raise the quality and standard of their music. As an album ‘Warnings’ is incredibly ambitious. The amount of work that went into making this is palpable. Providing a coherent piece that merges sounds from a variety of styles and artists while maintaining a deeply consistent identity throughout. ‘Warnings’ feels occasionally bloated but maybe it’s due to the nature of the artist’s reverb-immersed sound that this album curates a really dense, thick, and enjoyable sound.