At the 2022 South By Southwest festival, Chicago indie rock trio Horsegirl took home the coveted Grulke Prize for the festival’s best Developing US Act. The band has been surging ever since, with their Matador Records debut album, Versions Of Modern Performance, due out on June 3rd. It’s a weighty build-up for the youthful band, consisting of high school senior Penelope Lowenstein and college freshmen Nora Cheng and Gigi Reece.
Today, the trio have released the new single, “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty),” a comfortably rocking track that doesn’t try to be something it’s not. This is simply tight, clean rock and roll, and it’s easy to latch onto their naturally polished sound. The lead guitar riff doesn’t try to tower over any other aspect of the composition, because this is a band that’s operating a true coherent unit; there’s a reason the buzz has been building. The track’s video feels like an outcast talent show and it was quirkily filmed at Lowenstein’s elementary school.
The band shared a statement on the making of the visual:
“The video provides a small look into our Chicago youth scene — it includes members of bands like Lifeguard, Friko, Dwaal Troupe, and Post Office Winter all grouped into oddball bands with weird gimmicks. We always have the best time making our videos with our friends in spaces we feel connected to. All of our friends showed up with various assortments of clothing and props, like wooden spoons, a bowling shirt collection, and an accordion. We wanted to harness the strangeness of everything that was brought to us, and wanted to showcase all of the people and bands that mean so much to us.”
Good old fashioned “strange” rock and roll. Yes please. Watch the video for “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” above.
Versions Of Modern Performance is out 6/3 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here.
