Chiaroscuro marks
the compelling and confident return of I Break Horses, the Swedish pop outfit
of Maria Linden- last seen touring alongside M83 on the strength of their 2011
debut album, Hearts. Linden and
company have since refined the shoegaze atmospherics of their predecessor into
a sophisticated package of pop sensibility. In the collective shadow of 2013’s near-overdose of
female-fronted synthpop, what Chiaroscuro
manages to accomplish is no easy task. I Break Horses somehow avoids the banal,
formulaic potholes that hinder (and will continue to hinder) similar artists in
this genre, crafting a collection of hook-laden songs that sound both inspired
and freshly familiar.
During some of the more ambient moments on Hearts, I Break Horses threatened to
indulge itself to the point of prematurely floating away. But for an album filled to the brim with a
variety of mood-illiciting synthscapes, Chiaroscuro
feels remarkably grounded and finite. It’s not until seven-minute closer “Heart
to Know” where Chiaroscuro officially
decides to tap into the ambient psychadelia that haunted (in a good way) their
freshman release. The result is a punchy, sometimes-volatile brew of stormy,
neo-gothic beats echoing both Deep Cuts-era
Knife and the more contemporary sounds of Glasser. Linden alternates between
textures of underlying darkness and uptempo buoyancy, no doubt to reflect
the true meaning of “chiaroscuro”- an Italian term translated to
“light/dark”. Tracks such as the
sweeping, tour-de-force “You Burn” and the unnerving “Berceuse” put this
terminology of contrasting composition to the best use- elsewhere, on the
catchy and electrifying “Faith”, Linden
grants the listener an exciting jolt of dark Crystal Castles-esque dancefloor ravepop.
While the concept behind I Break Horses’ second album may not exactly be the
freshest of ideas, Linden’s songwriting and execution lend Chiaroscuro an
unexpected gravitas that resonates with the listener long after “Heart to Know”
fades into the ether.
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