In 2018, the Estonian cowboys of Holy Motors became an absolute sensation of my musical world releasing the super moody and densely dream pop debut album. This autumn they are back with the followup on Horse although the shift in their music is clearly visible.
Obviously, they always seemed to like it, let's take Valley for example, but this time their album is rather an airy approach to alt-country and americana. In the perfectly melancholic vocals of Eliann Tulve still sound the dream pop colours but the whole thing tastes rather of dirt and freedom of the Wild West. The guitars twang and in the backgrounds and are as far from the shoegazing vibes as possible. And then the compositions are keen on getting to a quite a lively pace, as in the opener in Country Church and the one fitting for some absolutely love ballads as well (Midnight Cowboy).
The lyrics indeed give space for no doubts as to the americana inspirations (as if the cover art, band's pictures or the album title left any). Even in the track titles there's so many Western-related references that the whole release sounds like a concept album actually. And it's no surprise as as far as I know, the Finnish-Estonian music world already knows some Wild West escapades. I won't lie, I preferred the airy dream pop side of the band but the dream country like here is certainly something unique and can't be missed.
Horse costs 7 USD.
Check: Country Church
Country: Estonia
Genre: ethereal americana
Label: Wharf Cat
