It’s telling that Horsegirl’s 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance (Matador Records), is still in my “new” pile. It’s a grower. It’s a legitimate piece of art. And in many ways, it stands as a harbinger of a new Chicago sound that has since brought about a wave of young bands (Friko, Lifeguard, Post Office Winter) in Horsegirl’s wake.

At the time of the album’s release, the headlines were more concerned with age than the actual music on the record. When writing and recording it, two-thirds of Horsegirl were still wrapping up their high school experience, and subsequently, the press focused on the girls’ ages and what they were going to major in at college – not anything pressing about said record.

Two years removed, Penelope Lowestein, Nora Cheng, and Gigi Reece have toured the world, including a stint with the Breeders, and moved full-time to New York, where a new kind of bustle has informed what is yet to come. In that span, that debut (one of our favorites of 2022) has marinated and can be seen as a bit of a landmark. It’s brimming with slacker ennui, moody atmospherics, guitars that look forward and backward, and a particular strand of loose fun that doesn’t sacrifice songs for aesthetics. What keeps me coming back are the indelible earworms, “Billy” and “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty),” in particular, hanging on eagerly for whatever comes next.

During our interview, talk of a second record was off the table for now. But with a short summer tour in June (with a stop in Agit homebase, Columbus), wherein Horsegirl will be testing out new material, it was about time we caught up with the trio. Be on the lookout for the second wave.

A lot of noise has been made about your musical influences, and everyone wants to say Sonic Youth, the Breeders, Interpol (the Matador connection), but I’m curious to know what was the record that made you want to start a band and make music. Were there any embarrassing musical obsessions before finding ‘90s indie rock, or was that pretty much what you were raised on?

Gigi Reece: For me, it was Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One. That was where everything changed. But before that, I was really into acapella music, specifically the band Pentatonix. And it’s not something I’m particularly into anymore.

Penelope Lowenstein: Yeah, the Sonic Youth influence is definitely there. I don’t listen to it as much anymore, but Daydream Nation is just one of those records that I listened to incessantly. I was raised in a more classic rock environment, and hearing Daydream Nation was just mind-blowing for me. I don’t think of anything I used to listen to as embarrassing, but I used to be super into Vampire Weekend when I was really young, and I still think all of their stuff is great.

Nora Cheng: Like Gigi, I didn’t grow up on indie rock. My parents played Breakfast with The Beatles, and I’d sing all of the songs on Rock Band with my dad. Randomly my mom, who never really introduced me to cool music, per se, played Television’s Marquee Moon, and that was pretty early for me. And that seemed to change a lot of my perception of music. But in middle school, I was really obsessed with Twenty-One Pilots.

And you still listen to Twenty-One Pilots? 

NC: I don’t, but yeah, all the songs that I thought were good back then are still good.

GR: Twenty-One Pilots is literally the reason that I started drumming.

I don’t want to get bogged down in the origin story, but how did you come to sign with Matador? 

PL: It all happened so unexpectedly. It went from zero to “What the heck is going on in our inbox?” All of a sudden, we started getting attention outside of Chicago after the Chicago Tribune published an article on us. All we did was send a song to the journalist Britt Julious, and she wrote back telling us how much she loved it. She did a profile, but it was funny because the theme of the article was that we were a band, but unfortunately, because of college, we might not be a band anymore. That was a really important moment. We started getting random emails from all different record labels and for a while we thought it was a scam. We were literally teenagers, so we didn’t know what exactly was going on. The songs got passed around and someone at Matador took interest.

I’m also curious about your metric for success. I’m still very into the debut, which is rare in the streaming climate, but it’s stuck. It’s timeless. In a past interview you talked about a youth scene in Chicago taking over, because of that I discovered Lifeguard, Post Office Winter, Friko, and Dwaal Troupe. Has that manifested as you had first hoped? 

GR: It definitely has. Being in and out of Chicago these past two years has allowed us to check in at different points, and whenever we return we are so surprised at the growth. There are all these new people around and all these new bands. Everyone is doing new and exciting things. Now that we are becoming adults, we are actually able to put our foot in the door. We can go to bars now and play those bars.

PL: We were never able to play the legendary Empty Bottle when we lived in Chicago because we were underage. We just played there for the first time, which was strange because we feel like we’ve been around this scene forever. My brother, who plays in Lifeguard, pulled up and he knew everyone who worked there. All of our friends here are being welcomed into this adult world that we used to feel really separate from. So it’s really sweet to be accepted by older people who have always been established in the city.

Did you ever feel unwelcomed or was that a matter of logistics? 

PL: Well, we were literally just kids. And no one wants to hang out with teenagers. So now I feel like we have our heads on our shoulders and can interact with adults in real ways.

You’ve said upon the release of Versions that it was a Chicago record. Can you expand on that? What qualities did the city bring to the recording?

NC: All of those songs were recorded right before Penelope’s last year of high school. They were written before we knew what was ahead of us, with the intention that they would be played to other teenagers. I feel like that aspect comes through in the songwriting. It was fun to figure out how to make these songs so that they could also be played in front of big rooms full of people, which we honestly never expected to happen.

The last time I saw you, you were opening for the Breeders. What was that experience like? That must have been a big deal for you. Any wisdom gleaned from the Deal sisters? 

GR: It definitely was a dream come true. It was inspiring to see them and play shows with them. Just to be around people who have had careers like that, it’s really nice to see. They’ve been passionate about it for so long. The crowds who come to see them are so into it every single night. We can only hope to have careers with longevity like that.

PL: Actually, before we played with them, we met them at Coachella. We were backstage and it was one of the most surreal experiences. Kim (Deal) actually approached us, and she was so effusive, in this way that I didn’t expect. She was so warm and meeting your heroes is not always like that. She went above and beyond because she knew how much she meant to us. They are the sweetest people.

Do you see your peers in bands, early to mid-20s, rallying around anything in particular with their music? Protest or escapism? With the world on fire, is there any message you hope to project when you’re out on the road or making a new record? 

GR: I think that there’s a good mix of people who have been playing benefit shows–for Palestine lately, of course–and some who like the escapism, like you said, of leaving town, going on tour, playing shows, for the love of music and the community.

PL: I would agree. I see a lot of us grappling with the challenge of making something creative or touring with something you’ve made, and also trying to self-promote, when obviously it doesn’t feel like the right time to do something like that. It’s hard to know what to do at any given moment.

GR: It feels corny, but my dad told me that the best thing we can do right now is to keep making art. As artists, the power you have is creating art and sharing that art with other people. Hopefully, we are doing the right thing.