Prize Horse – Under Sound | Album Review
/
New Morality Zine
It’s my understanding the kids love shoegaze now, which is the oldest-sounding sentence I’ve uttered all year. Like all cultural trends, the genre has cyclically come in and out of phase many times, much like the guitar tones that define its most essential albums. For some bands that pull direct influence from shoegaze, it’s a dirty word the way any overt genre callout can be. So many emo bands don’t want to be called “emo” or metalcore bands “metalcore,” but their songs are full of repurposed Jimmy Eat World or Killswitch Engage riffs, respectively.
My comprehension of modern shoegaze is about halfway between my complete lack of understanding of contemporary emo and my unwavering fandom of current strains metalcore. I have no idea what’s popping off on TikTok, but whether you got into shoegaze yesterday or three decades ago, Prize Horse delivers everything you need on their debut LP Under Sound.
To be fair to the Minneapolis trio, I don’t intend to force them into a stylistic corner here. There’s much more on this record than just big guitars and washed-out vocals. Contrary to the latter, one of the defining features of the band’s sound is Jake Beitel’s voice, which is mixed up front, sitting evenly within the often thick instrumental production. The album’s premiere single, “Your Time,” which was released back in October, is a prime guitar rock cross-section of alternative, emo, and our old friend shoegaze. The band isn’t fully leaning into any one of those sounds, but carefully composing them all into a distinct mix, like a beefed-up version of Turnover.
Or take the opening cut, “Dark Options,” which begins with a sparse intro of clean guitars, a lowkey electronic rhythm, and yearning vocals. “Don’t wanna sit on the floor with it. Come over now, it’s gone. It left a hole in my stomach, I’ll find who did that and make them pay.” Beitel has a precise way of phrasing, letting his delivery ride along the wave of the music, sometimes over-enunciating a word to a biting effect. The one-two punch of “Dark Options” and “Your Time” in Under Sound’s starting lineup should quickly reel in fans of Fleshwater, Modern Color, or Nothing.
The title track, “Under Sound,” bears one of the heaviest emotional weights on the album, a bold choice to put as the fourth song. “Been working my whole life for now, stepping along. Too much weight on the past life.” There’s a palpable pain seeping through the entire band’s giant performance. Beitel closes, “I want it out of my head, buried under sound.” It serves confidently as the record’s centerpiece, displaying Prize Horse’s sound in its most encapsulating form.
“Reload” and “Stone” are two of the more direct bangers on the record, going for that “definitely alt but still make peoples’ heads bang” vibe that I get from bands like Anxious or Citizen. Prize Horse is consistently good at putting forth riff-led rock that wouldn’t feel out of place on any subgenre highlights playlist. There’s enough to latch onto for the underground uninitiated, but they’re not alienating their scene either.
The reserved production on the outro track “Awake For It” is a pleasant finale to an album that doesn’t feel bloated or reaching for something it can’t obtain. Between the acoustic and slide guitars working together, it evokes some of the more left-of-center moments on the last Touché Amoré album, Lament. The two bands also share the commonality of casting a wide net around music subcultures, Touché Amoré being a fan favorite from everyone from hardcore kids to Pitchfork baristas. I think the only thing working against the track is that it ends just a bit quickly, where, instead, it would have been nice to send the album out on a grander coda.
A well-thought-out sequence of performance volumes, Under Sound expertly balances the in-your-face heavy alternative moments with the slow and methodical emo passages. Prize Horse is a band that wouldn’t feel out of place on any small-club “punk” bill. They could sit in the middle of Code Orange and Gel just as much as they could Turnover and Beach Fossils. Whether you think shoegaze-inspired bands are in or out this week, Prize Horse is beyond all quick labels, letting them stand out amongst their contemporaries.
Logan Archer Mounts once almost got kicked out of Warped Tour for doing the Disturbed scream during a band’s acoustic set. He currently lives in Rolling Meadows, IL, but tells everyone he lives in Palatine.
