Review Summary: My head is spinning... and I love it.
Interventions is an album of experimental rock, avant-garde jazz, math rock, krautrock, musique concrète... ambient... minimalist electronic... with influences from African instrumentation... Well, you understand that it's very diverse, right? Horse Lords utilizes all these influences to rock in their own style, creating their own brand of rock and owning it in a very ambient and experimental way. Sometimes with beeps, sometimes without beeps, and other times with a pretty world music rhythm that turns into a hybrid of experimental post-rock and jazzy music. I could feel all of this in their most recent albums from 2022 and 2020, with the 2022 album being much more danceable and the 2020 album, "The Common Task," being more free and less accessible. It was a surprising experience.
This band aims to surprise you with a sound that is quite universal and worldly. I would say they use at least one distinct musical reference from every possible country. Krautrock from Germany, typical 60s free jazz from the avant-garde scene in the United States, math rock with Japanese influences... Well, it's clear that they are open to everything, and their execution is fantastic, psychedelic, direct, brutal, progressive, and never stops.
The psychedelic guitars of "Truthers" take us into a clearly repetitive atmosphere, building upon itself and repeating over and over, changing with small polyphonic structures that make a significant impact. A slight change can completely transform the melodic structure of the song, but at the same time, you might not even notice it. I had noticed this in their two most recent albums, but here they do it in a much more direct and raw way, and it honestly sounds incredibly cool and well-crafted. They are a very talented band, and it's evident in tracks like "Encounter I/Transfinite Flow," where they also showcase their more experimental and concrete side, as in "Intervention I," a piece of polyphonic minimalist electronic music that showcases what they do best in a more reserved and bewildering manner.
Then, there is what I consider the best song of the entire project, the magnificent "Toward the Omega Point." This song brings together the best of the band in one place, with incredible harmonic and melodic polyrhythms that adorn each other in an excellent way. There are so many sounds playing at the same time that you can get lost in whichever one you want, but the beauty of it is that they all coexist in an incredible way. The bass does its thing, the guitar does too, not to mention the saxophone and the synthesizers when they appear. But together, they sound as if they were one entity.
Next, we have more ambient and undoubtedly surprising tracks like "Encounter II" and "Intervention II," which are the most eerie and ambient pieces on the album. They create a dark atmosphere with a minimalistic saxophone solo that is so well-produced and recorded that when played at a high volume, it sounds as if it's being performed right beside you. It's a fascinating contrast with the previous track. "Time Slip" serves as a warning that something is coming soon, and it's a very pleasant warning. It's a short and direct song that works well, although it's more erratic and in the style they would adopt in the future with "The Common Task."
"Intervention III" is also interesting, mixing the elements mentioned before but in a calmer way, with production focused on allowing you to hear everything clearly. It combines mini polyrhythms, blending musique concrète with math rock and experimental jazz rock in a small and subtle way, until the end when it becomes almost entirely musique concrète and polyphonic sounds that connect to the second-to-last track, which, for me, is the final one, as "Never Ended" serves more as an outro.
Those polyphonic and distinct sounds from "Intervention III" transform into an experimental rock with a strong bass in "Bending to the Lash," which is also one of the best songs on the album. It showcases what Truthers does best but in a more direct and somewhat violent manner, continuing with their polyphonic rhythms but taking them to an even higher level. It creates a realistic sense of closure, making it a song that concludes the musicality quite well. I love it.
"Never Ended" is an interesting ending. It incorporates the elements of tracks like "Intervention III" or "Encounter," but at the same time, it doesn't. Everything turns into... Applause? It's an unexpected yet somewhat anticipated ending. It's unclear whether they are applauding the band or the listener, but most likely, it's directed towards the listener.
Horse Lords is a band that fully embodies their music and performs it in its true form. They take ownership of their style and never let it go for anything in the world. However, they also care deeply about the listener, about people, and they interact a lot with their fans. They might seem like mechanized robots creating nearly perfect math rock jazz, but I assure you they're not.
"Interventions" is a brilliant project by Horse Lords that confirms this band as one of the best in their style and genre. They are one of the most important, influential, and interesting underground experimental rock and jazz-rock bands. I admire them, and I genuinely love their music. I could dance (yes, dance, I'm crazy) and feel good within their rhythms for hours, getting lost in their hypnotizing music. I'm excited to explore even more of this band's past.
So many things happening... but they all sound amazing. What a madness.
Rock!... Rock?
