An Horse: Unabashedly Enjoyable

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In "Dressed Sharply," the Australian duo An Horse has fun with the everyday difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship.

Courtesy of the artist

In "Dressed Sharply," the Australian duo An Horse has fun with the everyday difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship.

An Horse singer-guitarist Kate Cooper and drummer Damon Cox met while working at an independent record store in Brisbane, Australia. Between stocking punk-rock CDs, the two forged a friendship that led to after-work band rehearsals. Cooper and Cox were in other bands at the time — Iron On and Intercooler, respectively — but in 2007, they began focusing more heavily on An Horse, whose debut EP caught the attention of Tegan and Sara's Sara Quin. Two years later, An Horse had an independent record deal.

Cooper and Cox came out swinging on their full-length debut, 2009's Rearrange Beds, notably with infectious songs like "Camp Out" and "Postcards." Now, on the new Walls, An Horse continues to showcase meticulous teamwork, with Cooper's quirky vocals and punk-inspired guitars blending seamlessly with Cox's disciplined percussion.

In "Dressed Sharply," the first single from Walls, Cooper sings of the everyday hardships inherent in a long-distance relationship — from the mundane ("I have nothing new to tell you") to the more overtly frustrated ("You get up when I go to sleep / but that's just me and geography"). Although there are only two players in An Horse, neither tries to overcompensate for it. Cox lends his vocals and fills the spaces that Cooper leaves empty. Cooper, on the other hand, is well equipped to do the rest. The result is unabashedly enjoyable indie-rock, enhanced by the evidence that Cooper and Cox are having a blast, too.