CHICAGO — Rock band Horsegirl’s sophomore album “Phonetics On and On” explores new sounds and sensations while keeping the focus on the chemistry of three lifelong friends.
“You still feel the emptiness of three people playing together,” guitarist Penelope Lowenstein said on the phone from her New York apartment she shares with fellow 21-year-old guitarist Nora Cheng. “And this is one of the major inspirations of the record: How much space can three people take up?”
The band recorded “Phonetics On and On,” their second album for storied indie label Matador Records, in January 2024 with Welsh musician Cate Le Bon as producer at Wilco’s Loft studio. They release the album on Friday and headline at the Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. in Wrigleyville, on Feb. 22.
Lowenstein, Cheng and 22-year-old drummer Gigi Reece formed Horsegirl six years ago as high school students, after meeting in a Chicago School of Rock program and bonding over their shared interest in classic alt-rock like the Stone Roses and Sonic Youth, particularly the latter’s iconic bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon. The band practiced at Lowenstein’s family home, where her musician father’s studio also hosted practices for her brother Isaac’s band Lifeguard, opening for them later this month.
The trio developed an abrasive sound as a way to stand out at open mics and other all-ages performances.
“There’s an us-against-the-world vibe we’ve developed,” Lowenstein said. Horsegirl quickly found an audience as part of a wave of young bands including Friko, Lifeguard and Neptune’s Core.
Horsegirl also picked up co-signs from the Gen X bands they admired: Pavement’s Bob Nastanovich championed their early single “Ballroom Dance Scene”; the Breeders, Wilco and Pavement booked them as openers; and their 2022 debut “Versions of Modern Performance” featured contributions from Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, formerly of Sonic Youth.
After moving out of their parents’ homes to NYC, the band wrote a new batch of songs with more directly emotional lyrics like the bittersweet love song “Julie.”
“We’ve seen each other through incredibly vulnerable experiences, and keeping up a band dynamic has forced us to have conversations as if we’re in a relationship,” Lowenstein said.
Matador heard their demos and suggested Le Bon as a producer, and the band was eager and nervous to work with an artist they admired (and praised in previous interviews to boot). The producer encouraged the group to be playful and exploratory on their second album.
“Our first experience in the studio [for our first album] was very practical, more of a documentation approach,” Lowenstein said. “This felt like a creation approach, and she was the perfect coach for that.”
Horsegirl embraced a wider array of sounds in their sessions with Le Bon, including synthesizers and gamelan tiles. “2468” features squealing violin lines recorded by Cheng in one of her first times picking up the instrument. It’s a charming new kind of abrasion for the band beyond distortion pedals.
“We were pushing ourselves to do things we never would have considered as high schoolers,” Lowenstein said, including clean guitar tones and pop song structures. The group found it freeing to record an album without the need to replicate its production exactly when they tour the East Coast and Europe this spring. “I think it’s cool to see a band do it in a real way, and I hope audiences agree,” she said with a laugh.
The band has been an extracurricular activity since before its members could vote, and now Cheng and Lowenstein are balancing their musical commitments with classes at NYU. Cheng will graduate from NYU in a few months, and Lowenstein a year later, after which the trio wants to return to Chicago where “it’s much more sustainable to be an artist.”
Lowenstein appreciates that her “normal life” has allowed her to avoid feelings of burnout or exhaustion, and she hopes young bands can protect themselves as well. “Do it for fun, and follow what feels fun about it,” she said. “I make the best music when I’m really enjoying myself.”
Tickets are still available for Horsegirl’s Feb. 22 all-ages show at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. Lifeguard and Answering Machines open. Doors open at 6 p.m.; show starts at 7 p.m.