Men I Trust’s “Equus Caballus” Makes Time Dissolve Slowly
In Equus Caballus, Men I Trust invites listeners to stop chasing and instead drift. The album mediates emotional undercurrents, surrender, introspection, and the ache of learning to live with uncertainty. This album paces itself into a long exhale after holding tension for too long, rewarding the willing people to slow down and listen. The album opens and unfolds like a lucid dream, soft but loaded with feelings. Sonically, it’s as hushed as deliberate, having gentle guitar strings, airy synths, and the lead singer’s feather-light voice that guides us through a faint journey. This album isn’t built on dramatic moments, it trusts atmosphere, one that simmers instead of boiling over.
The sound is, as expected, immersive and delicate, built from layers of atmospheric synths, gentle rhythms, and the ethereal voice presence of Emmanuelle Proulx. From the opening track, the album sets the tone: melancholic, slow but undeniably beautiful. The tracks don’t rush, but rather breathe. There is a sense that each track exists in its world, unhurried and contemplative.
“Another Stone” pushes the emotional temperature of the record, dwelling in the despair of not feeling at home in the world. Emmanuelle Proulx, the lead singer of the band, sings, “Gone, calm in changing paths / Don’t go out enough / To know the midmost crowd,” which reflects on self-isolation and the critique of the structure that rewards comfort. The “world” described in the song is one of emotional detachment, observed but never inhabited. “There’s nothing I could find / To give me peace inside,” talks about existential unrest, suggesting a hollow sense in motion, constantly shifting but never arriving. The absence of peace throughout the song suggests that the band is weary of searching for answers that may never come.
The track “Billie Troopy” is a song filled with metaphor and personification. “Billie” becomes a symbol of discipline, performance, and emotional suppression. “Billie will be tidy / Tough as rocky streams, steady is the speed,” gives listeners the idea of someone who is relentless and maybe a bit unforgiving. There is a delicate tension in the chorus, “Heels twist in a ballet / Whenever you're in pain, don't turn to blame,” suggests the pain of being managed through beauty, through control, and how haunting it is. Ballet becomes both an elegance and a pain. The line “Please don’t go out to stray” feels like an internal warning, like a reminder to not let the mask slip and to stay within the emotional boundaries we’ve built for ourselves. The song overall hints at the cost of holding yourself together for too long.
What makes Equus Caballus a wonderful listening experience is its commitment to emotional honesty without the need for reliving a strong emotion. The album doesn’t need or demand a moment of release, it simply exists in the liminal space between thoughts and feelings, where the search for peace truly never ends. This collection of tracks feels like a reflection the human condition, one of slow, sometimes full of painful self-awareness, but also profound emotional depth.
Men I Trust gave us an album that finds its power not in grand moments, but in the patience requiered to sit with oneself. As the last note fades, Equus Caballus leaves you with an unexpected sense of clarity, urging you to continue in your own search for peace within the quiet spaces of your life. Catch Men I Trust on tour this year, tickets can be found here!
