Horse Lords - Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!

Baltimore quartet Horse Lords continue their exploration of rhythm, pattern and collective motion on Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!, a set of twelve interlocking pieces built from intricate cycles and an inescapable groove. Alongside core members Owen Gardner, Max Eilbacher, Sam Haberman and Andrew Bernstein, the album features bass clarinetist Madison Greenstone, trombonist Weston Olencki and, for the first time, vocals from Nina Guo and Evelyn Saylor. The opening ‘Eureka 378-B’, drawn from 19th-century sacred harp music, introduces a vocal thread that ripples through the record’s layered structures. Recorded across Baltimore and Berlin as the band worked remotely, the album reflects a musical language refined over years of collaboration. Fragments reappear across short ‘Rotations’ pieces while algorithmic processes shape parts of the music. Concepts of transformation and shifting perspective run throughout, resulting in a richly detailed record that reveals new patterns with each listen.