Prize Horse
Album: Under Sound
Release Date: 2024
USA
Minneapolis trio Prize Horse make a fuzzy, dreamy form of alt-rock that manages to be heavy and spaced-out at the same time. They’re not exactly a shoegaze band, but they work in the distinctly Midwestern tradition of groups like Hum. Prize Horse haven’t been around for long; they released their debut EP Welder just last year. Today, they’ve got a new single.
The new Prize Horse track “Your Time” is contemplative, but it’s also built on a titanic groove; it sounds a bit like meditating in a wind tunnel. The band has a bunch of shows coming up, including dates with Superheaven, Koyo, and Trembler. [More on Stereogum]
Lyrics: Your Time
now you’re shown that I feel no drive at all it comes out of my hands drags it all through, in a way
take your time I won’t reply, I won’t reply
until my mind can hold in things, can mold my life
and now it’s overflown but I’m not done
now I’m told to grow towards the sun, lets it go
take your time,
I shouldn’t even laugh at all, shouldn’t even laugh it off, until my hands can grip onto, can lift my size
Tracklist: Under Sound
01. “Dark Options”
02. “Your Time”
03. “Further From My Start”
04. “Under Sound”
05. “Leave It”
06. “Reload“
07. “Rev“
08. “Stone“
09. “Know Better”
10. “Awake For It”
Along with it being one of the oldest songs on the record, we just felt that it was a good middle ground between Welder and Under Sound. There are still heavy parts, but the majority of the song is focused on establishing a sulking feeling while expressing it even further with the vocals.
Jake on why they have chosen Your Time as their first single
Congratulations on your debut full-length! Will you please tell us about the band and how the album came together?
Thank you! The three of us have been playing together for about seven years, starting as a different band that eventually morphed into what we are today. The album was a long time coming, writing for it started as soon as we finished recording Welder. After grinding songs out for almost two years, we ended up back in the studio with Corey Coffman recording Under Sound! We all feel very relieved to finally have it shared with the world.
How would you describe Prize Horse’s music? What are the main elements of your music?
I’d say our music is full of emotional intensity. All the songs stem from feelings in moments of my life and are built around that. This often brings a solemn atmosphere, but an angry one as well.
As far as I know, the band doesn’t have a long history. Are there any significant differences between the making of your debut EP and debut LP in terms of settling on what direction you all want to go? Or, was it already sealed when you first started?
I think the main difference was distance, our bassist Olivia lives in Connecticut now so that creates some new things to work around. I don’t think it negatively affected us at all though, I think it just gave us more drive to work as hard as we could when we were able to be all in the same room. Direction-wise, the progression was very natural. We’ve always been on the same page about what kind of stuff we wanna make, and the others are always really supportive when I bring something to the table that’s a bit different.
Who are some of your inspirations?
As a whole, some of our favorite groups are Cloakroom, Failure, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Pedro the Lion. Personally, as a songwriter, I take a lot of inspiration from Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon), Rick Maguire (Pile), and Hovvdy.
We’ve picked Your Time for our loop series. What is the story of the song, how did it come about?
For a bit, this song was just a chorus and I didn’t know what else to do with it. Eventually, we fleshed it out into the full thing and it just felt really fresh compared to Welder. Lyrically, it’s dealing with feelings of procrastination and dissatisfaction.
How did you end up choosing Your Time as your first single?
Along with it being one of the oldest songs on the record, we just felt that it was a good middle ground between Welder and Under Sound. There are still heavy parts, but the majority of the song is focused on establishing a sulking feeling while expressing it even further with the vocals.
Will you be making any videos for any of the Under Sound songs?
No music video plans, but we will be filming our album release show to release as a live video!
