Horse Jumper of Love Stride On Their Third Album, Natural Part

The slowcore Boston trio tweak the formula for a considerable payoff

When you’re a three-piece indie band, studio sonics are something to be explored to keep moving your act down the river, and Boston-based slowcore act Horse Jumper of Love has done that with winning results on their third record, Natural Part.

Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Dimitri Giannopoulos with John Margaris on bass and Jamie Vadala-Doran lethargically but methodically beating the skins, Horse Jumper of Love has always had the songwriting chops like the crawling “Ugly Brunette” and “Orange Peeler” from their self-titled debut. Even when teaming up again with producer Bradford Krieger, this time at his Rhode Island studio, the band pairs their memorable jagged melodies with a warm audible jump in fidelity on Natural Part.

After the slow writhing build of “Snakeskin,” Natural Part rolls into a supreme run of songs beginning with “Ding Dong Ditch,” in which Giannopoulos channels Stephen Malkmus in self-doubt and memorable cyclical guitar riffs. I don’t always buy into the nineties revival in music at the moment, but “I Poured Sugar in Your Shoes” is a brilliant little love song, and I treasure it as much as I would have in 1996. Really, this tune would fit in perfectly with an alternative second-wave playlist of the era and would have crushed on MTV2.

Horse Jumper of Love cites Nirvana’s Unplugged and Oasis as influences for this record, and “The Natural Part” is the most significant proof of this with an excellent cello part from fellow New Englander Emily Dix Thomas, which manifests memories of Kurt Cobain’s green cardigan. The slow fuzz of “Under the House (Skunks)” is the best tribute to stinky weasels you’re ever going to hear, while “Sitting on the Porch at Night” highlights Giannopoulos’s gift for meditating on the mundane.

The back half is a little uneven, with “I Put a Crown on You” and closer “Bucket of Gold” working as the highlights, but I also have a gut feeling the rest will follow as I spend more time with the album. Either way, Horse Jumper of Love has landed a massive growth spurt here, and Natural Part’s indie rock ways rise above most of the genre’s releases from this year.

Natural Part is available now on Run For Cover Records.

Hear songs from Horse Jumper of Love and so many more on the Good Ass Songs 2022 playlist! (For those that think music is dead, here are 224 songs that say otherwise… and it’s only June!)