It feels impossible not to radiate profusely with optimism and hope upon pressing play to the debut single from Spanish Horses.
Marking a moment of creative breakthrough for a band that have recently relocated from the less-than-constructive hedonism of Paris to the whatever-it-is of London (they have both French and English members in the set-up), ‘Hey Man (Hey Man)!’ is a remarkably level-headed and assured debut. Drifting away blissfully with Americana shuffles and a Spacemen 3-style of woozy, two-chord, the-shrooms-are-kicking-in psychedelia, Spanish Horses are busy bottling that bittersweet coming-of-age feeling that teeters tearfully on the ‘Sad that it’s over’ and the ‘Glad it happened’ axis. And, boy, it is bittersweet! The end of the long hot summer is coming, and Spanish Horses are here to play us out.
Catch them live (damn good they are too!). They’re at End of The Road festival this weekend, opening for partners in indie/americana-crime Little Grandad at Scala in London later this month.
Photo by Cole Flynn Quirke
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