Sugar Horse have become one of my most listened to bands over the last twelve months. Their unique brand of shoegazey doom-metal has hit a chord in my lovely, ugly heart. I am delighted to announce then that the band will be releasing their debut album, The Live Long After, on 27th August.
Sugar Horse are a bit like my favourite band of all time, Deftones. They don’t sound anything like them, but they have captured that perfect heady mix of super-heavy, growling, rage on some tracks, like the first released single from the album, “Fat Dracula“, or they can pen something so heartbreakingly gorgeous that it makes you want to cry and you don’t really know why, like with their most recent song, “Phil Spector In Hell”. I’m certainly not losing tears over Spector, but the track is haunting. All things bleak and beautiful.
Sugar Horse have the greatest song title naming skills. It was their track “Your Degree Is Worthless, And Your Parents Aren’t Proud Of You” that first switched me on to them, and it’s another song that is far more uplifting than the title suggests it will be. I’d go as far as saying it’s a religious experience. Then there’s “Richard Branson In The Sky With Diamonds“, and “I Liked You Better Before You Went to Art School”. For a band that sound quite serious on record and whose lyrics are poetically dark and dipped in grief, Sugar Horse have a wicked sense of self-deprecating humour.
So it’s safe to say I am looking forward to what The Live Long After brings to the table on 27th August. The band are also playing an album launch show on August 29th at The Exchange in their home town of Bristol — it’s where all the cool kids are from — with Sang Froid & Better Than Mending supporting. You can buy tickets here, and you can pre-order the album and buy any of their previous releases and merch on their Bandcamp page.
In the meantime, check out “Phil Spector In Hell”.
WARNING CONTAINS FLASHING LIGHTS, CLOSE UPS OF A BALDING MAN & PRETENTIOUS USE OF SILHOUETTES (their words not mine).
Sugar Horse are Ashley Tubb (vocals, Guitar, Keyboards), Jake Healy (Baritone Guitar, Keyboards, Synths, Gruff Shouting), Chris Howarth (Bass) and Martin Savage (Drums). They are signed to Small Pond Recordings, so they are in excellent company with CLT DRP, Bitch Falcon and many more.