I Break Horses - Hearts

I Break Horses - A self-described "control freak" and hypochondriac who even admits to a phobia of her own heartbeat, Swedish songwriter Maria Lindén fatefully met up with her fellow Horse-man (and lyricist) Fredrik Balck at an online medical forum... obsession, affliction and what Lindén calls "man/machine conflict" are running themes in the dense, shoe-gazed electronica that's at the heart (so to speak) of their impressive debut...what keeps it interesting for us is how the lush melodies manage to radiate warmth despite the cool, hi-tech instrumental backing // Release: Hearts (October 18, Bella Union) // Sounds like: bleak lyrical themes hide in the shadows of Hearts' often majestic, heavily layered blanket of synth-driven melodic art/pop...like trying to discern images through a deep, drifting fog, Lindén's ethereal voice bobs on the crest of immense washes of synth ambience and a symphony of dazzling mechanics...

Quote: "When writing music I do think of images, and I could describe the album as a soundtrack to all my favorite movies onscreen and in my head...People have talked a lot about the shoegaze thing, but that just one fragment really." - Maria Lindén // What we like: "Pulse" ebbs and flows with a heavenly Cocteau Twins-styled aura, twinkling electronics and rumbling bass lines coloring the reverbed backdrop for Lindén's sweeping vocals...the perfectly titled "Winter Beats" slowly constructs around a swirl of synth keys and a beat that sounds like it's emanating from a frozen drum head...

 

I Break Horses - "Pulse" (from Hearts)

I Break Horses - "Winter Beats" (from Hearts)