I Break Horses

Chiaroscuro

Bella Union/PIAS

Street: 01.21

I Break Horses = Tamaryn + Sigur Rós + Poliça

Although it feels like I’ve heard this album a hundred times before, performed by different artists throughout the years, I Break Horses deliver a skillful synth-pop performance of epic proportions. Chiaroscuro is filled with reverb and drawn-out chords that echo off the vocals of Maria Lindén and her partner, Fredrik Black. Lindén is a proficient acoustic ecologist and hauntingly uses her music to transform her audience from the physical to metaphysical world. There are some pretty epic power ballads on the album, but I’m partial to favor some of the milder tunes, such as “Heart To Know”—an eight-minute-long experience that’s actually worth losing yourself in. Overall, I didn’t feel that Chiaroscuro has done anything radically new or inventive, but aesthetically, they pulled off something worth giving a listen to. –Kamryn Feigel