The monolithically heavy, uniquely mercurial UK quartet Sugar Horse return with their new album The Grand Scheme Of Things to be
released 4th October via Pelagic Records.
A lot of people take the name Sugar Horse to be a drug reference - perhaps fitting for a band that sound like the last moments of a three-day binge. Darting wildly between dark/light, pain/bliss, sacred/profane, Sugar Horse are unpredictable and unrestrained. In typical Sugar Horse fashion "This album was intended to be a sideways step. A move away from the kind of thing that is expected of us… if anything is at all.”
A much more direct, to-the-point album, The Grand Scheme Of Things recalls elemental bands as disparate as Sleep, Oceansize, Mogwai and The Cure. Recorded almost entirely live in one of Bristol’s most derelict churches (the aptly-named All Hallows Hall), the history of the location practically pulses through the monumental record. You can almost hear the floorboards creaking, old lightbulbs flickering – fittingly dilapidated atmosphere for an album concerned with the end of life.
A meditation on the journey toward death, The Grand Scheme Of Things is the outlet for singer AshTubb - a funeral pyre even - for his late father, who passed away just as work on this record was beginning. The creaking floorboards, flighty lightbulbs and more demonstrate a soul, once alive and all too human, now leaving for somewhere else.
An album full of gravity, then, and Sugar Horse’s most profound work yet. A bold claim considering Sugar Horse are a group well-known within the UK scene for their uncompromising approach. Formed in the utopian dreamscape of 2015, Sugar Horse initially grew slowly. Their 2019 release DRUJ followed swiftly by 2020’s DRUGS saw the band hit on a relentless stride of eclectic releases that simultaneously confused and entranced audiences.
For their recent tour with label mates LLNN, the 2 bands have released a split 7“ with one new track by each artist. Sugar Horse have previously toured with post-rock luminaries 65daysofstatic across Europe, as well as dates with Pianos Become The Teeth, Liturgy, Chat Pile and an appearance at Arc- TanGent festival.
1. The Grand Scheme Of Things
2. The Shape Of ASMR To Come
3. Corpsing
4. Mulletproof
5. Spit Beach
6. New Dead Elvis
7. Jeferson Aeroplane Over The Sea
8. Ofce Job Simulator
9. Space Tourist