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B i o g r a p h y
 (by Tim Sendra)

Horsegirl take musical cues from the '90s alternative scene (shoegaze, noise rock, indie pop) while also showing off a healthy regard for the scenes (college rock, post-punk) that paved the way for that decade's sounds. In 2022, the trio channeled these elements into something both familiar and disarming on their debut album, Versions of Modern Performance. 2025's Phonetics On and On found the band reexamining their sound and stripping it down with the help of producer Cate Le Bon.

The group's guitarist/vocalists Penelope Lowenstein and Nora Cheng met at a young age while both were taking part in one of Chicago's youth music programs. They realized that they shared many musical influences -- Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon being a major one -- and began going to shows together. At one of them, they met drummer Gigi Reece, who had also been in a similar music program and shared their musical taste. The three traded favorite songs back and forth and hatched a plan to start a band. They named it Horsegirl and started playing shows held at all-ages venues like art museums and youth centers. Influences were added to the mix at a dizzying pace as the musicians discovered more of the past, including bands on the Flying Nun label and German art rock of the '70s to go along with their core interests in '90s indie rock like Yo La Tengo and Pavement.

With the help of some friends, they recorded three songs in the basement of one of their houses and released the resulting EP, Ballroom Dance Scene, online. The reception to the songs was very positive, with U.K. label Sonic Cathedral (home of artists like Lorelle Meets the Obsolete and Andy Bell of Ride) releasing two of the songs -- "Ballroom Dance Scene" and "Sea Life Sandwich Boy" -- as a single in early 2021. By that point, Horsegirl had weathered the early stages of the COVID-19 lockdown in their respective homes, and when restrictions loosened, the trio of high school students took Zoom classes together in the mornings and rehearsed in the afternoon.

Long-running tastemakers Matador were another label that was impressed by the group's EP; in April 2021 it signed Horsegirl, much to the band's delight and amazement. They started work on an album almost immediately, rushing to finish before the recently graduated Cheng and Reece headed off to N.Y.C. for college. The band decamped to Chicago's famed Electrical Audio studios with John Agnello -- a longtime Dinosaur Jr. collaborator -- in the producer's chair. The trio whipped up an album that wove together angular post-punk rhythms, grinding shoegaze noise, sweetly sung indie pop, and avant-garde snippets of sound into something that was informed by the past but not bound to its traditions. Versions of Modern Performance was issued in June 2022, just as school was letting out, which allowed Horsegirl to head out on their first long jaunt across the U.S.

The next two years were busy as the trio continued their schooling along with playing shows with Wilco in Chicago, appearing at Coachella and SummerStage in Central Park, as well as touring with fellow Matador band Lifeguard and the Breeders. Meanwhile, they continued to write songs, a proposition made easier by all three bandmates living in N.Y.C. full-time, and in early 2024 headed back to Chicago to record their second album. Working with Cate Le Bon as producer, the group stripped away much of the noise and distortion of earlier recordings and instead focused on space and the sound in between the notes. Phonetics On and On was released in February 2025 by Matador.




Versions of Modern Performance
- 2022-06-03 -

Anti-glory
Beautiful Song
Live and Ski
Bog Bog 1 (Instrumental)
Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)
The Fall of Horsegirl
Electrolocation 2 (Instrumental)
Option 8
World of Pots and Pans
The Guitar Is Dead 3 (Instrumental)
Homage to Birdnoculars
Billy


Phonetics On and On
- 2025-02-14 -

Where'd You Go
Rock City
In Twos
2468
Well I Know You'
re Shy
Julie
Switch Over
Information Content
Frontrunner
Sport Meets Sound
I Can’
t Stand to See You
Non Albums Tracks
- Misc -

Ballroom Dance Scene
Computer Love
Emma Swapped Instruments
Forecast
History Lesson Part 2
Sea Life Sandwich Boy
 This Is a Song About My Ex

Add some NEW lyrics (B-sides, live tracks, Cover), want to CORRECT some of them or found a BUG ? Just send a little EMAIL or simply post a message on the FORUM. Thanx !
 

Versions of Modern Performance

Anti-glory

Nora Lyrics

Slipping away, I call it up and downtown now
Filling up it's falling around
In the back of the barn, in the back of the yard
In the front of the town, in the back where it's far

Turning away, can't make it out or out loud now
Feeding for a foe till it's found
From a dance in the hall to a plan, it's too tall
For the boy in his band, they know no one at all

Innen and grey it's always up or down, left, right
Accounted for they're never uptight

Slipping away, I call it up and downtown now
Filling up it's falling around
In the back of the barn, in the back of the yard
In the front of the town, in the back where it's far

Turning away, can't make it out or out loud now
Feeding for a foe till it's found
From a dance in the hall to a plan, it's too tall
For the boy in his band, they know no one at all

Innen and grey it's always up or down, left, right
Accounted for they're never uptight
Penelope Lyrics

Dance
With me please
Dance
With me please

If black
Turns to blue
Well there's nothing I can do

If black
Turns to blue
Well there's nothing I can do

Dance, dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance, dance with me

Dance
With me please
Dance
With me please

If black
Turns to blue
Well there's nothing I can do

If black
Turns to blue
Well there's nothing I can do

Beautiful Song

For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men

When you see them in the water and you swatch in the heat
When you pass the table dressing and you blot in the street
When a fly's stuck in your car without a key, how does it breathe
How does it breathe
How does it breathe

How does it breathe
How does it breathe
How does it breathe
How does it breathe

How does it breathe
How does it breathe
How does it breathe
How does it breathe

For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men
For blinking men, for blinking men

Live and Ski

Leningrad gets in her head
She walks along the Western Shore
She asked her friends for help so
But they don't know what she needs

They ask her questions
They ask her questions
They ask her questions
They ask her questions

Polly S. scrapes up her leg
She wraps it up with golden thread
A present for her mother
Who is drowning in the bay

They ask hеr questions
They ask her quеstions
They ask her questions
They ask her questions

Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)

Stained by the mother of mine
You were not worth the bother
My brother keeps his things in line
While he files fodder

Pleased to pry into my mind
While the broker trades a nickel for a dime
Tonight, tonight
She wants the TV on for light tonight
While the stickler sticks his nose into her spine

The sills, they seep with bugs and bills
I bide by grinning
Thrills traced by thirteen years on stilts
The floors keep thinning

Please to please the sake of timе
While the broker tradеs a nickel for a dime
Tonight, tonight
Yes, I am scared and I am prone to everything I've ever known
But the stickler sticks his nose into her spine

The Fall of Horsegirl

Don't let them see you, don't let them see you
Don't let them see you
Don't let them see you, don't let them see you
Have you been

Don't let them see you, don't let them see you
Eyes caved in
Don't let them see you, don't let them see you
Someone's sin

One, two, three
Four, five, six

Don't let them see you
Don't let them see you
Don't let them see you
Eyes caved in

Don't let them see you
You're drowning in
Don't let them see you
Don't let them see you

Option 8

I'm doing fine with the things that I’ve kept with mine
I'm on the way to the place that makes you keep time
Who's to say when all the roofs will cave in again
I’m taking notes for the folks who fall out of line

Stand straight, don't be late
I never meant to hesitate
I say you want it all

I'm on the run from the severed leg of my son
Fall on a day when your body would break and you're done
Who's to tell you you should stop when you're feeling stunned
I'm biding time till you're warped and left with just one

Stand straight, don’t be latе, I never meant to hеsitate
I say there’s more to fall
Stand straight, don't be late, I never meant to hesitate
I say I’d better stall
Stand straight, don't be late, they played the song called "Option 8"
I say you want it all

Stand straight, don't be late
I never meant to hesitate
I say you want it all

On the way, on the way, on the way for a dime
On the way, on the way, on the way for a dime
On the way, on the way, on the way for a dime

Stand straight, don't be late
I never meant to hesitate
I say you want it all

World of Pots and Pans

Emma was my brand new friend
Fun to see how this one ends
Lovelee sweet, she walks like she can't see

Won't hear her dance or see her run
There's simply nothing to be done
When Emma sweeps the floor it turns more grey

When I'm counting away
Sometimes I'm thinking that I lust you
But I know it's only love

C D E F G H
I think you're just like honey and heaven too
Come on, let's go dance the jamboree

Seven days and seven nights
I dreamt of horses and Verlaine
Whilе Emma eggs her head, shе looks the same

While I'm counting away
Sometimes I'm thinking that I lust you
But I know it's only love

While I'm counting away
Sometimes I'm thinking that I lust you
But I know it's only love

Emma was my brand new friend
Fun to see how this one ends

Emma was my brand new friend
Fun to see how this one ends

Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend

Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend

Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend

Homage to Birdnoculars

Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole

She's a vacant lady
What a sorry sight

Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole
Fall into my wormhole

She's a vacant lady
What a sorry sight

Billy

Billy, if I went
Billy, if I went

Billy says he’s got a stiff rate in the nick of time (Billy, if I went)
He washes off his robes in preparation to be crucified (Ohh-oh) (Billy)
Billy recounts all the time he spent on counting-change (Billy, if I went)
The changes that he never made'll make him wish he stayed and prayed

Billy walks across the pond at half past eight (Billy, if I went )
He says he walks into the yard and tells them everyone is nearing dеad
Billy has a little nickname for his paradise (Billy, if I wеnt)
He folds it up and sets it on the mantelpiece to look real nice

Billy washes off his robes and he will say that (Billy, if I went)
Everyone is in everyone’s out the afternoon is turning grim
Billy believes in a room that’s growing thin and thin (Billy, if I went)
He’ll shut the door and think about the silly little state he’s in

Phonetics On and On

Where’d You Go

Where did you go
(Far, far, far away)
Where'd you go
(Far, far, far away)
Where'd you go
(Far, far, far away)
Where'd you go
(Far, far)

If all the welders in the world
Took this pipe and made it right again, oh

Far, far, far away
(Where'd you go?)
Far, far, far away
(Where'd you go?)
Far, far, far away
(Where'd you go ?)
Far, far, far

Rock City

Shepherd's got a hundred friends at home
He says, "How do you do?"
But no warmth in their wool
Shepherd wants to drive a flower truck
'Cause it smells nice and everyone's happy
All through the town when you come 'round

Forty years
He saw the same sun sinking down into the green of the hill
When he can't sleep, he'll blame the sheep

Young man sickened by the sight
Got no faith, no appetite
Now the engine's running dry
Young man sickened by the sight
Young man sickened by it

In Twos

Every car that passes by drives to you
Overlooked by any face just passing through
Your footprints on the street, they walk in twos
Every good thing that I find, I find I lose

And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try

And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try

Every car that passes by drives to you

And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try

And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try

2468

Two, four, six, eight
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
Two, four, six, eight
They walk in two's

They walk in two's
Two, four, six, eight
They walk in two's
They walk in two's

Two, four, six, eight
They walk in two's
They walk in two's

Two, four, six, eight (Two, four, six, eight)
(They walk in two's)
(They walk in two's)

(They walk in two's)
(They walk in two's)

(They walk in two's)
(They walk in two's)

They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's

They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's
They walk in two's

Well I Know You’re Shy

Sing for you
I wanna sing like I do
Out your window
La-da-da-da-dye-dow
Radio tune
When the radio's blue
Listen to your window
La-da-da-da-dye-dow

What happened out there
I wish it was me
What happened out there
I wish it was me
What happened out there
Well, I know you're shy
If you listen to me, you'll know
I wanna say, "Hi," in your window

Think of you
Well, I can't sleep when I do
Looking through my window
La-da-da-da-dye-dow
And it's not connected to
How all good things come from you
And looking through your window
La-da-da-da-dye-dow

What happened out there
I wish it was me
What happened out there
I wish it was mе
What happened out therе
Well, I know you're shy
If you listen to me, you'll know
I wanna say, "Hi," in your window

Walk in two
'Cause you were so obscene
I hope that you know now
I hope that you know now
I hope that you know now

'Cause you were so obscene
I hope that you know now
I hope that you know now

What happened out there
I wish it was me
What happened out there
I wish it was me

What happened out there
Well, I know you're shy
If you listen to me, you'll know
I wanna say, "Hi," in your window

Julie

Julie
Da, da, da, da
Julie
I wish I could tell you what you want
Julie
Da, da, da, da
Julie
I wish I could tell you what you want

Well, there's something on your plate
I wish it was more than you could take
We have so many mistakes to make
What do you want from them?
To have the same dream three times a week
Favors too big for you to keep
I have so many mistakes to make
Mistakes to make with you, you know I want them too

Say, say
What you're gonna do-do-do-do-do
Say, say
What you're gonna do-do-do-do-do

When there's nothing to do
I'll think of you
What to do, do-do, do-do, do-do
I'll think of you

Julie
Da, da, da, da
Julie
I wish I could tell you what you want

Well, there's something on your plate
You wish it was morе than you could take
We have so many mistakеs to make
What do you want from them

Do you have the same dream three times a week
Favors too big for you to keep
We have so many mistakes to make
Mistakes to make with you, I want them too

What to do, do-do, do-do, do-do
I'll think of you

Switch Over

Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)

Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)

Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)

Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh
Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh

Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)

Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)
Switch over (Switch off)

Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh
Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh

Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh
Oh, say, say, say, say
What you wanted to say, oh

Switch off
Switch off
Switch off
Switch off

Switch off
Switch off
Switch off
Switch off

Information Content

While I was in the other room
I found it stiller than I knew
Knock-knock into, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"
Not much to hear, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"

It's never dull when l'm alone
I'm translating my talk to tones
I'll play you out, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"
You hate the sound, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"

One step for the blatant rhyme
I tread into the vacant time, it's due
Tick-tock on a broken line
You'll wait until you hear a voice come through

Dead air and the humming's high
With what you wish, it's what I wish l'd do
Ooh-hoo, acknowledged every sigh
With something that meant, "La, la, la"

You're habiting to handle more (Da, da, da)
I've come to comfort, shutting doors (Da, da, da)
I wish I could, I do, I do, I do (Da, da, da)
But I just sing, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"

Underpinning all that gray (Da, da, da)
Is some sensе that I meant to say (Da, da, da)
But all you got's, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo" (Da, da, da)
'Cause all I give's, "Ah-hoo, ah-hoo, ah-hoo"

Onе step for the blatant rhyme
I tread into the vacant time it's due
Ooh-hoo, tick-tock on a broken line
You'll wait until you hear a voice come through

Dead air and the humming's high
With what you wish, it's what I wish l'd do
Ooh-hoo, acknowledged every sigh
With something that meant, "La, la, la"

Frontrunner

In the morning when you're sleeping
I can't wait and I can't wait to compromise
And in the morning when you're sleeping
I can't wait and I can't wait and I can't wait
And I can wait for you

And in the evening, counting out ticks
Feels like the clock up there will never see them through
And in the evening, counting minutes
I can't wait and I can't wait and I can't wait
And I can wait to see you

In the morning, when you're sleeping
I can wait
In the morning, when you're sleeping
I can wait, I can wait

In the morning, when you're sleeping
I can wait
In the morning, when you're sleeping
I can wait

Sport Meets Sound

They
They go around
They
They go around

And they say, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"
And they sing, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"

They're (She stands tall and upright)
They're lost and found
They're (To make up for her height)
They're lost and found

And they say, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"
And they sing, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"

He
(Young man sickened by the sight of twenty years that passed him by)
He heard the sound
(Now the engine's running dry, running dry, it's running dry)
He
He heard the sound

And he says, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"
And he sings, "Da, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, da-da, da-da"

I Can’t Stand to See You

Do you want to go home now
The night's almost through
Let's sit on the floor now
And talk, me and you

I can't stand to see you
I really ought to know

Well, I woke up to the radio
Same old story and same old tune
I've got a hunch or two
Don't know what to do

Just another walk 'round the block now
Like l'm made of glue
We'll shake hands goodbye now
It's all we can do

I can't stand to see you
I really ought to know

Well, I woke up to the radio
Same old story and same old tune
While the radio plays like it's in my head
I can't sleep when I'm going to bed

And it's, oh, so plain to see
How often I think sentimentally

Non Albums Tracks

Ballroom Dance Scene

(Ballroom Dance Scene et cetera)

If your lungs are scarred, come in
If your mind's too far, come in
If you prance all day, come in
(William with bad hygiene hides flies inside the pocket of his jeans)
If you'd rather stay, come in
(Andrea's down eighty 'cause she needed years to save her night routine)
Come in, come in
(If you want to stay a while, just hang your coat and turn the TV on)
Come in, come in
(Give into the shingles life, play baseball in the street and hug your wife)
You say you cry all day, well, close them instead
(Marianne who's older now will stuff her soul in seven plastic bins)
You say you'd rather stay, well, just lay in bed
(Benjamin has seven pens to differentiate between his sins)
Fingernails fall like snow, hair falls from your crown
(Susie sits in woolen socks and licks her bruise like it's a lollipop)
Do you shake as a dance as you lie on the ground
(Lawrence pins things to the wall 'cause his yard's far too full of human jaws)
If you want to stay a while, there's good news at the next left turn, I swear
Sitting with no makeup on with both legs crossed until your neighbor comes
If you want to stay a while, just hang your coat and turn the TV on
Give into the shingles life, play baseball in the street and hug your wife

Computer Love

One, two, wait
One, two, three

Computer love, computer love
Computer love, computer love

What to do
What to do
What to do
What to do

That was good
A little rough, but

Emma Swapped Instruments

Okay we have to do it with the mindset
Of We are artists
We are artists
Okay can you just tell me the lyrics though
Emma was my stupid bitch
Yeah say that
You gotta make it up
Yeah
Gotta go with the fly
Yeah you start it
Yeah like i'll come in
Yeah okay

Emma was
Emma was my best friend ever
Emma was a stupid cunt
Emma like to talk like me

???
Forty hours, forty minutes a day
Emma was ???
I thought we were switching to half-time

Emma was my brand new friend
Good to see how this onе ends
Until now don't ever talk likе me

Fourteen minutes and fourty hours
???
But she'll never ever talk like me
???

Emma was, Emma was, Emma was
My brand new friend
Emma was, Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was
Emma was my
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was Emma was Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
???
Emma was
Emma was
Emma was
The start of the story's like
Emma-ah
Emma-ah
Emma-ah
More of the story like
Emma

Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend
Emma was Emma was
Emma was my brand new friend (Emma was a garbage whore)
Emma was
Emma was (Emma sucks)
Emma was my brain new friend
???

Emma
Emma
Emma never wanted me
Emma
My brand new friend
Fun to see how this one ends!
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
And my knees went "Emma post"
I wish I was Emma

Oh does she even know the way to
Play with swords
Emma! Emma! Emma! Goodbye!
???
Goodbye!
???
Emma

Fuck the queen!
Fuck!
It looks like a poo!
When I went into my marching band beat, that was prime
So smart!

Forecast

(Ballroom Dance Scene et cetera)

Shallow
I am shallow
I am, I am, I am shallow
Oh, oh
Shallow

I am, I am, I am shallow
I am shallow
I am, I am, I am shallow
Oh, oh
Shallow
I am, I am, I am

Fell asleep in the bathroom
In the bathroom, bathroom
On the lawn
On the porch in the backyard
In the backyard, backyard

Sit and sat in the way you should sit still
You should sit still
What's it for
Wash the door in the attic
In the attic

I don't know about the weather
I don't know about the weather
I don't know about the weather
I don't know about the weather

They asked me if I knew about the weather
All I could do was shake my head and say no
I wanted to understand them
Do I look like I know about the weather?
Did they just trick me?
Are they keeping secrets from me?
No, I don't know, I'll never know
I've only met one man who knows of it
He does much more than know
At least that's what they say to me
(Maybe I'm a child)

Do not push, do not shove, do not give me any trouble
The talk of the town is
I've looked at the sun too many times
Does it hurt when you blink or
Sting when you cry
As a matter of fact

The words that come from them are vulgar
They don't tell me the truth, not many have
But I'll tell them the truth, I'd be honest
I deserve what he has, I deserve to know
The power he has, the praise he's received
I look onto them and ask, "Why"
Let me harvest your righteousness
We must come together, bring food, bring drink
Topple before me onto the gravel
For I am your savior
Thomas of Santa Monica

History Lesson Part 2

Our band could be your life
Real names'd be proof
Me and Nora Cheng played for years
Punk rock changed our lives

We learned punk rock in Hollywood
Drove up from Pedro
We were fucking corn dogs
We'd go drink and pogo

Mr. Narrator
This is Bob Dylan to me
My story could be his songs
I'm his soldier child

Our band is scientist rock
But I was E. Bloom and Richard Hell
Joe Strummer, and John Doe
Me and Penelope, playing guitar

Sea Life Sandwich Boy

(Ballroom Dance Scene et cetera)

Streetlights show me
I remember you lived there
Spotlights flicker
I'm thinking 'bout your hair
I'm breathing in the air

All the blonde cartoons and
In the empty rooms and
On the sofa sit in quietly

And the portrait suits you
And the lampshade's turned blue
Candle dripping on the books

Where'd the clouds go
I'll never know
I don't want to
Live inside your space
I can see your face

All the blonde cartoons and
In the empty rooms and
On the sofa sit in quietly

And the portrait suits you
And the lampshade's turned bluе
Candle dripping on the books

This Is a Song About My Ex

(Rough Trade Super-Disc)

This is bittersweet

This is a song about my ex
He got run over by a car
And guess who was driving that car
It was me it was me it was me
I ran over my ex

His name was Darren
He was quite rude to my mom (ooh-ooh-ooh)
He was so rude to my mom (so so rude)
He wouldn't pass the salt to her at dinner (pass the salt to her)

(Darren you've gotta go)
So I was like
"Darren you're out" (Darren you gotta go)
Darren you're out (Darren you gotta go)

So I (rumb a tum tum gum)
I got into my Volkswagen (Darren you gotta go)
And I drive down the interstate
And I saw my pal Darren (Darren you've gotta go)

And I was likе
"Darren, it's time for you to leavе" (you gotta go)
(Go go go)

This is a song about my ex
He got run over by a car

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