feeble little horse Shed the Weight of Shame on “Steamroller,” Announce Summer Tour
The Pittsburgh quartet’s sophomore LP Girl with Fish arrives on June 9 via Saddle Creek
Photo by Micah E. WoodAfter blowing the doors of modern alt-rock wide open with their debut album Hayday in 2021, the anticipation of feeble little horse’s follow-up has continued to build immensely in the two years since. Earlier in 2023, the band announced their sophomore LP Girl with Fish, which was accompanied by the ferocious lead single “Tin Man.” Luckily for us, our friendly, neighborhood noise harbingers are back, again, with the face-melting “Steamroller,” where vocalist Lydia Slocum marauds atop a cascade of distortion and wrestles with a mountain of shame she’s hoping to let go of. “Steamroller, you / Fuck like you’re eating / Your smile’s like / Lines in the concrete / Threw the towel in / I’m tired of baking / I’m the only one / Who sees me naked,” Slocum sings, patiently. Beyond the static wall and gnarly textures, there’s a poppy guitar solo from Ryan Walchonski dancing. “Steamroller” is one of feeble little horse’s best tracks yet.
“It’s a shame song overall,” says Slocum. “It’s my most embarrassing song to sing.” Sebastian Kinsler adds “When I played Lydia the first voice memo she liked how clicky the guitar sounded so I recorded a track through my iPhone for the intro. Also, when we were working on vocals, I was like I think you should go ‘yeah’ in the pause after the chorus and she was thinking the same thing, really good sync energy that day,”
“Seb found a way to capture super clean ghost notes while recording, so I really let those ghost notes carry the groove of the verses, the part feels really good to play. Also when the song was first laid out, I saw it was like 3.5 minutes and I was like ‘Are y’all sure you wanna release a song that long?” Jake Kelley explains, while Ryan Walchonski adds: “We wrote it while I was sick. I also remember asking Seb if I could do a guitar solo on this one (something we rarely do) and he said yes and I was happy.”
To accompany the single, the band has also announced a summer tour in celebration of Girl with Fish, which arrives on June 9 from Saddle Creek. In June and July, feeble little horse will embark on a 13-date tour stretching from Pittsburgh to Seattle to Austin. They’ll be playing shows with Full Body 2, A Country Western, Merce Lemon and Gina Gory.
Watch the “Steamroller” visualizer and check out feeble little horse’s tour dates below.
feeble little horse’s upcoming tour dates:
6/10/23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird ~
6/25/23 – Washington, DC – Songbyrd ^
6/27/23 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s ^ *
6/28/23 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg ^
6/29/23 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop ^
6/30/23 – Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern ^
7/02/23 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry ^
7/05/23 – Seattle, WA – Barboza ^
7/06/23 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall ^
7/08/23 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop ^ *
7/09/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon ^ *
7/10/23 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar ^ *
7/12/23 – Austin, TX – Mohawk (Indoors) ^
~ w/ Merce Lemon & Gina Gory
^ Full Body 2
* A Country Western