Phonetics On and On by Horsegirl

Welcome to the Top 10 of 2025! The trio of people who make up the phenomenal band Horsegirl met at the School of Rock (the globally-franchised for-profit music education program) in Chicago in 2019, while the three of them were in high school, which says something about their chemistry and why they work so well together. Setting aside whatever outside factors drove them to the School, they all had a youthful love of music and their instruments enough to want to learn more, to then find each other in that environment, and then form a band around that shared experience, to the benefit of us all.

Now, having relocated to New York while two of the three of them attend NYU, they deftly balance the demands of university while creating music as “indie darlings.” Phonetics On and On is their second album; I have not heard their debut album, but through my research I’ve learned that their “high school record” debut is louder and bigger, probably not for the better. What I can tell you is that Phonetics is 11 songs of pure indie-rock bliss.

With Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein (the NYU students – although it’s possible they’ve graduated now? And possibly even moved back to Chicago? My sources are decidedly mum about their more recent history, since Phonetics came out nearly a year ago, on Valentine’s Day 2025) alternating lead and background vocals and lead and rhythm guitar, and Gigi Reece behind the drum kit, the band fills a void last filled by a slew of late 90s / early 2000s bands such as Built to Spill, Liz Phair, and Rural Alberta Advantage. There’s even a line of similarity you could draw all the way back to the Violent Femmes’ 1983 self-titled debut.

All of those reference points have louder, more in-your face songs in their catalog, but Phonetics is a quiet affair. Finger plucked acoustics, with the occasional fuzzed out guitar, time and key changes that evoke my favorite prog-rock turns, and the dueling voices of Cheng and Lowenstein blending together in a slightly-off but oh-so-endearing way. The album was produced by Welsh musician Cate Le Bon, who is at least partially responsible why Phonetics may feel like a left-turn for those who got into the band’s debut album. “Play less notes” was a key bit of production advice from Le Bon, who has produced albums by other indie luminaries, such as Kurt Vile, Deerhunter, and even Wilco’s most recent album, 2023’s Cousin.¹

I could have picked any one of their videos as the “best” from this album – they’re all just so good. “2468” (featured above) is a bouncy, brain-wormy song that could easily have been created during grade school recess. Cheng even picks up the violin for this song – I love a band that can break out the orchestral stringed instruments. “Switch Over” is also bouncy, but in a more droning, jam-session clip. “Frontrunner” is twangy, with the un-harmonic doubled vocals pulling you through. And “Julie” slows it way down, with lots of non-word vocals (da da da da da da da…).

There aren’t many bands that evoke the music I fell in love with when I first moved to Seattle back in 1997, but Horsegirl is one of them. I suspect we’ll be hearing much more from the trio as the year rolls on, and I will be first in line to pick it up.

^{1. Phonetics On and On was recorded in Wilco’s Chicago studios, The Loft.↩}