I Break Horses - Chiaroscuro

‘Chiaroscuro’ translates as ‘light-dark’ in Italian. And if you know anything about I Break Horses that makes perfect sense. Debut ‘Hearts’ was a bruised, delicate and enchanting record, an album full of dusk-filled beauty.

Now it’s time for album number two. ‘I let myself write both the happiest songs but also the saddest, and then I put them together,” says vocalist Maria Lindén explaining the album’s title. That’s not all that’s changed - things have got a little more 80s in the world of I Break Horses too. That means there’s less reverb and shoegaze; the songs you find here are glossier, a little more shimmering and dancey. But there’s also the same effects-heavy, hazy textured soundscapes that made the first album so captivating, and Maria’s voice is still as beguiling.

It means some of these songs sound less Cocteau Twins and closer to the more recent output from M83 – that is to say less slow-burning and more overtly pop-friendly. Just take first single ‘Denial’. It’s an unexpectedly upbeat and dance-y number which sees the duo edge toward something one could call (glitchy) synth-pop. It’s also overwhelmingly catchy with Maria’s fluttering vocals and the warm splashes of colour. It’s somehow lighter and more taut than what they’ve done before.

And it sets a template for other tracks. ‘Faith’ is dark dance music, its pulsating beat and panoramic chorus showing another side to the group, while ‘Weigh True Words’ is almost euphoric with a massive chorus of Technicolor, lasered synths.

Yet there’s still enough melancholy and heartbreak to keep the winter occupied. From the spectral opener ‘You Burn’, through ‘Ascension’’s off kilter, warbly synths which comes across as the score to an 80s sci-fi film, and the echoing understated funeral march of last song ‘Heart To Know’ they still have more than enough to bury with their melancholic beauty.

Lindén has described the sound as melancholy in a glamorous way and that’s pretty much spot on. ‘Chiaroscuro’ flits between highs and lows, beauty and desperation, moments of glistening synth-pop and moments of somber introspection. That’s why it works: they’re always able to create something to get lost in. And, most importantly, the songs remain heartbreakingly, hauntingly beautiful.