4½ out of 5

“The album is here!”

As I thumbed through my inbox shortly after waking up on Thanksgiving, that subject line immediately snapped my mind to attention. Though I’d been previously tipped off that the debut Horders LP was done and coming out soon, the opportunity to finally hear it and react to it still caught me off guard. I’ve been familiar with most of these songs for years, having heard them live for the better part of a decade, but it was still a bit challenging to know where to start, now that their final versions have been committed to history.

Thanksgiving 2020, under self-imposed COVID isolation, would go on to be a weird, somewhat dreary day. But in a year where little could be taken for granted, the arrival of this long-anticipated record couldn’t have come at a better time.

Some quick background: Horders is one of several projects that grew out of a vibrant underground music scene in the North Bay, with most of its lineup veterans of The Coma Lilies, a phenomenal instrumental band of young Sonoma County musicians who played and composed well beyond their years. Each of these splinter projects have recognizable strands of that band’s DNA still at work, while carving out their own unique identities. The Coma Lilies put much emphasis on the band’s cinematic qualities, approximating something like dredg-doing-Morricone. The caliber of musicianship at the table also enabled them to enjoy a high degree of stylistic freedom apart from their core, arguably post-rock, sound. At times they could be accurately described as a less schizophrenic, more listenable Secret Chiefs 3, flirting with everything from mathcore to folk to flawless Aphex Twin covers played with live instruments. To some extent, each of the myriad bands and solo projects that emerged from the Coma Lilies and their eventual split went on to further and more fully explore some aspect or aspects of its progenitor’s broad musical vocabulary: My Dads’ cerebral, esoteric subtle-but-technical approach incorporated elements of modern jazz and evoked what would happen if Bohren & der Club of Gore acquired an insane rhythm section. Mean Girls’ maybe-ironic synth pop weirdness featured the otherwise-unheard-of-in-their-world use of vocals. Math-rock quartet Sloth & Turtle, (which for a time shared almost its entire lineup with Horders), probably comes closest to adhering to an established genre, but even then with a few extra hyphens and asterisks. There are too many others to list here, but they’re all interesting and worth going down the rabbit hole for.

Of all these permutations, Horders is arguably the most raw, direct, and well, rock. Some tasteful overdubs notwithstanding, Eternities is fundamentally the sound of the band’s core trio — Jaime Wosk (guitar) Gabe Katz (drums), and Brian Kincaid (bass) — jamming out relatively short, riff-based pieces that take just enough inspiration from their wide array of influences to keep things interesting but with few frills and maximum sincerity in the finished product. Often a single motif will be developed over the course of four or five minutes. Eschewing much of the overt technicality, dense atmosphere, and humor of their other projects, Horders’ proper debut album unpretentiously captures the proficient musicians just playing old songs meticulously and collaboratively refined over years in dive bars, house shows, local art spaces, and studios up and down the West Coast.

I don’t think of many of the projects in the Horders universe as “album bands.” But there’s both a unified sound and flow throughout Eternities, and enough variety between the tracks to keep things engaging and make it a cohesive listen. The album is bookended by a shimmering reverb-soaked soundscape, appearing in both in the brief intro track and the final moments of the meditative, partially acoustic closer “Grey Matters.” The rest, the band at least plausibly dubs as “stoner tech” or “psychedelic grunge.” I’d probably quibble with the accuracy of some of those labels but I can’t think of any better ones. 

The uplifting buildup of proper opening track “Peeling a Banana in Reverse” is punctuated by eerie slide guitar before it gives way to a dramatic and satisfying shift in tone in the song’s driving final minute. A busy bassline pulls “How/Now” through probably the most progressive arrangement on the record, complete with soaring harmonized guitars in a triumphant conclusion that wouldn’t have felt out of place over the end credits to Super Metroid. “Fear of Falling” is a newer song and a standout: Minor-key guitar arpeggios lay the foundation for the slow-building piece that adds layers of horns and strings, eventually culminating in some of the record’s heaviest moments. The relatively stripped-down “Void Transaction” juggles a couple of breezy, jangly guitar motifs that recall Pinback at their most technically ambitious. “Trails in the Sand,” another slow-burner with roots in the band’s early days but fully realized here by new instrumental embellishments, cements the record’s flow while functioning as an extended lead-in to album climax “LZRDRGN”. In that penultimate track, the band slams the song’s main four-note riff through enough key changes and stylistic interpretations to make your head spin, before bringing it down to a gentle looped section and finally exploding into a triumphant conclusion that I’m still trying to count. Into the placid comedown of “Gray Matters”, and the album wraps at an all-too-short 35 minutes.

Though the music may flow neatly here, the album’s path to completion was another story entirely. Production for what was supposed to be Horders’ debut record began six years ago, backed by a crowdfunding campaign. (Full disclosure, I contributed to it and in exchange got a drum lesson from Katz.) Things were moving ahead more or less smoothly until a year later, when as the band was enjoying a high point in its history opening for RX Bandits, someone broke into Wosk’s car and stole the laptop and hard drives that contained much of the original sessions. A long process of rerecording ensued, during which they underwent some lineup changes and continued to write. Eventually they made the decision to split the project into two parts: 2018’s Save Everything EP (a not-so-subtle nod to both their band name and their negligence to back up the original recordings), and what was to become Eternities.

Now that both are out, the case for the two-part release becomes more obvious. Save Everything was mostly composed of even older material and leans a bit darker and heavier, where Eternities tends to showcase Horders' more buoyant, subdued and plaintive sides. These compositions tend to be somewhat longer, take more time to grow, and offer more space to breathe. The guitars are usually on the cleaner side. Wosk’s excellent production expertly captures the band’s organic, cooperative sense of dynamics that’s a such a highlight of their live performances.

Throughout the record, Horders draws on the talent of several friends and frequent collaborators, and the liner notes read as something of a who’s-who of the scene they emerged from. Hunter Ellis and Nico Molinari, both former full-time members, contribute additional guitars throughout, giving the songs extra weight and texture in key moments. Coma Lilies alum Asher Katz offers some subtle keyboard layers. Longtime collaborator Don Malkemus (My Dads) provides trumpet parts. And Lauren Jacobson (now with The Lumineers), Chris Votek (Coma Lilies’ original bassist), and Linden Reed (Sloth & Turtle’s drummer and cellist) add depth to the record’s more melancholy sections with perfectly placed string arrangements.

Much of what makes Horders’ sound work is its knack for making the complicated feel simple, accessible, gritty, and honest. The hooks in these songs are straightforward and memorable enough that you tend not to notice the barrage of time signatures and ridiculous drum fills holding them together, at least until you see them played live. Yes I’m still trying to figure out what the hell they’re doing at the end of LZRDRGN, but it ultimately doesn’t really matter – as much as the first time I heard it in a small club somewhere, the emotional impact of that part is undeniable, regardless of whatever nerdy shit is going on under the hood. It speaks to the rare combination of raw ability, unique chemistry, creativity, and writing and arranging skill among the lifelong friends who make up the band. 

The album was originally going to be titled Pleasure Points. I don’t know what the story behind that was, but Eternities seems a fitting replacement. Yes, there’s the obvious self-dig about the long delay. But as the band suggested in the announcement to its crowdfunding donors that showed up that Thanksgiving morning, the record’s title refers just as much to the ups and downs of life over those long years and the enduring creative partnership of those who saw it through. 

Get Eternities and Horders' other music here.

Check out of 2018 video of the Save Everything release show, featuring most of the people mentioned in this review, here.