I Break Horses

Stockholm, Sweden-based duo I Break Horses reenergize their shoegaze and dream pop influences, adding buzzing synthesizer to layers of distorted guitar and gauzy, majestic vocals. Fredrik Balck (Strip Music), who handles instrumental duties, and singer Maria Lindén (Blackstrap) met in 2008 under unusual circumstances: both self-professed hypochondriacs, they regularly visited the same online medical forum and discovered they shared friends as well as a passion for playing music. For the next three years the pair gathered ideas and recorded their debut record. Hearts, released on Bella Union in 2011, found the duo using their curious origin as inspiration, thematically addressing the fragility of life and sonically incorporating elements such as pulse-like drum beats. After the success of their debut, the duo toured the States as the support act for French outfit M83 in 2012, alongside their own headlining shows across Europe. Work began on their second release the following year and the resulting album, the guitarless, much darker Chiaroscuro, was released in early 2014.