Sugar Horse Sign to Pelagic Records; Tour Dates Announced
The 17-minute title-track of Sugar Horse‘s new, single-song EP, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico — yes, that’s a real place — is my first exposure to the Bristol, UK, four-piece troupe who are newly signed to Pelagic Records. I’d imagine that the manner in which I was flattened by the transition from its ambient outset into righteously slow, scream-topped post-sludge nod is just about the ideal. Bipolar in the sense of working from one extreme to another, Sugar Horse at least on this one extended song can crush and rip and tear or recede into a kind of textural contemplation, as they do moving toward the EP’s middle with grand melodic vocals sweeping in circa 7:30 to carry the listener into the next open expanse.
By 8:20, they’ve snapped back to a harsher reality with a long-scream metalcore breakdown like it’s 2002 and I’m about to give myself a concussion, and the thread continues from there. They’re loud, they’re quiet, they’re droning, they’re pummeling. Following the noisy guitar assault circa 12 minutes (love that bassline beneath), the held scream signals the start of a decay-to-drone at around 12:30, and still Sugar Horse aren’t finished. Five minutes of drone? Total washout? Considering the amount of ground covered, they’d be within their rights, but no. That wash makes its presence felt for about three minutes before right at about 15:20 they drop a skyscraper of distortion onto your unsuspecting (or maybe now suspecting) ears and slow-push that increasingly noisy final movement into the fadeout.
Sugar Horse have been at it since at least 2016 and their 2021 debut, The Live Long After, has an eight-minute song called “Dadcore World Cup” that has strings on it, so clearly I have homework to do. A bunch of short releases out as well, and they kind of rule. They’ll be good labelmates for SÂVER from Norway, and speaking of labelmates, they’ve got dates with LLNN coming up. While I dig further, here’s the latest from the PR wire:
Doomgaze quartet Sugar Horse sign with Pelagic Records, announce tour with LLNN
The monolithically heavy UK quartet Sugar Horse have signed with Pelagic Records, and announced a February 2024 tour supporting labelmates LLNN.
Dates as follows:
Feb 03: UK, London Boston Music Room
Feb 04: FR, Paris Glazart
Feb 05: CH, Lucerne Sedel
Feb 06: AT, Vienna Chelsea
Feb 07: PL, Krakow Kamienna12
Feb 08: PL, Warsaw Hydrozagadka
Feb 09: PL, Wroclaw Lacznik
Feb 10: CZ, Prague Kasarna Karlin
Feb 11: DE, Berlin Urban Spree
The news follows the release of the Bristolians’ mighty new EP Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico (3rd November, Fat Dracula Records/distributed by Metal Blade Records in US).
Order and stream Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico here: https://li.sten.to/Consequences
An epic achievement, Truth… is, in signature Sugar Horse style, one single long song: a meditation and exploration of everything the note A has to offer.
Sugar Horse comment on the new single: “This section kind of feels like stepping into the eye of a particularly lengthy storm. It’s a short reprieve where we break everything down before climbing back up that staircase again. Lyrically it describes the catharsis of art. You can take in any pain, hurt and bullshit from day to day like, then use it to generate something positive and beautiful. There’s something I find unbelievably beautiful in that kind of genesis. It’s probably the closest I come to any kind of religious thought. You take hell and turn it into heaven.”
Telling the story of Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico, the band state: “It’s frequently been difficult for us, as a band, to limit ourselves to “normal” pop song lengths and structures….as evidenced in pretty much all of our releases to date. From time to time we feel the need to loose the ropes that bind us and let our Long & Tedious flag fly freely. Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico is the result of said untethering.
“We’ve always found the idea of exploring a single note over long stretches of time interesting and this song is that idea taken to an extreme logical conclusion. It’s an exploration of the note A in all its possible variations.”
Sugar Horse have recently toured with post-rock luminaries 65daysofstatic across Europe, as well as dates with Pianos Become The Teeth, Liturgy, Chat Pile and an appearance at ArcTanGent festival.
Sugar Horse are:
Ashley Tubb (Vocals/Guitar)
Jake Healy (Baritone Guitar, Keyboards)
Chris Howarth (Bass)
Martin Savage (Drums)
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Fantastic news for all concerned. Even as a local I was behind the times with Sugar Horse, but they have something very interesting going on.
Can also confirm that when they are loud they are LOUD