Horse Jumper of Love Captivates Bowery Ballroom

manhattan, new york - november 22nd, 2024

Horse Jumper of Love played a dimly lit, intimate set at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday November 22nd, a particularly stormy night. The crowd hurried in from the cold rain to witness a personal and emotional show by the quartet from Massachusetts, celebrating their new album Disaster Trick, released this past August, with support from Primal Rat Screw, a heavier band from New York, and Spencer Radcliffe, a slow indie act from Ohio.

Primal Rat Screw was a surprising but exciting opener, and their set released a completely different energy into the venue compared to the latter bands. With loud screams and heavier, melodic, guitar, they loudly enveloped The Bowery in their sound. Spencer Radcliffe followed, countering the more fast-paced discography of Primal Rat Screw with soft Indie ballads. Categorizing himself as “Ohio Music”, Radcliffe’s slower songs are just as lovely as his punchier compositions. With music that sounds like a long sunny car ride, the crowd swayed along with the band as they played.

Horse Jumper of Love took the stage a little after 10 PM. The lights dimmed and slowly cycled between blues, purples, and reds, covering the band in a soft light as they began to play. After they released their self-titled record in 2017, Horse Jumper became an important stone in lo-fi indie rock and has been on the rise since then. They played a good amount of their new record, which is melancholic and self-reflective, as well as their more well-known tracks such as “Ugly Brunette”, “Orange Peeler”, and “Bagel Breath”. With an unfortunate fainting happening in the crowd about halfway through their set, the band took care to make sure the crowd was alright and offered to stop the music again if anybody needed it.

Horse Jumper of Love is careful and poetic, stringing the crowd along with soft guitar and patient drums. The intimacy of Bowery Ballroom allowed the audience to get up close and personal as the band poured their hearts into their music. Their tour came to a bittersweet end two days later in Baltimore, Maryland after nearly two months of touring and New York City is already missing them.