Horse

At 22 years old, Eliann Tulve resembles Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval, reincarnated as an Estonian cowgirl. She is enigmatic as ever but stands more firmly alongside co-songwriter Lauri Raus, the solidification of their roles perhaps accounting for the more hopeful turn their song writing has taken of late. Holy Motors' new album Horse finds the band acknowledging the Americana and rockabilly strands of their musical DNA without sacrificing any of the otherworldly mystique that keeps them from neatly conforming to the shoegaze and dreampop labels often applied to their music.

From the album's opening moments, songs like "Country Church," with its major key and classic rhythm and blues guitarline, and "Midnight Cowboy," which sounds like a lost Buddy Holly 45 played at 33 rpm, make it clear that Horse – even if it may not accomplish the impossible task of demystifying this band of ex-Soviet cowboys – will at least show you that there's more to them than the near-impenetrable darkness of their work to date may suggest. Although tracks like "Trouble" and "Endless Night" gravitate toward the ethereal production and existential subject matter of prior releases, repeat listens reveal complex compositions and an empathy that is central to this eight-song album.

As a whole, Horse stands as a warmer, more human counterpoint to 2018's celestial Slow Sundown, and showcases Holy Motors as a hypnotic force that draws listeners in and leaves them wanting more. This effect, paired with their ability to write lyrics and music that resonate with a deeply relatable feeling of isolation, has resulted in an album built to connect with people from devoted shoegaze and western psychedelia fanatics to dreamer cowboys, driving through wide open country roads under the stars.

1. Country Church
2. Endless Night
3. Midnight Cowboy
4. Road Stars
5. Matador
6. Come on, Slowly
7. Trouble
8. Life Valley