Watch Horsegirl’s “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” Video

Rising Chicago rock trio Horsegirl have shared the third single from their forthcoming debut album Versions of Modern Performance, coming June 3 on Matador. “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” is out now, along with a music video.

“Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” continues the trend set by Versions of Modern Performance’s previous singles, “Anti-glory” and “World of Pots and Pans”: The lead track’s staccato precision has given way to more and more frayed lo-fi edges, though Horsegirl’s pop hooks still won’t waver. Their new single begins with a fiery garage-rock flicker, only to relax into a more nonchalant posture. Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein trade woozy riffs and sandpaper strums over Gigi Reece’s dragging percussion, delivering vocals thick with internal rhyme and indistinct discomfiture: “Pleased to pry into my mind / While the broker trades a nickel for a dime, tonight tonight / She wants the TV on for light tonight / But the stickler sticks his nose into her spine.” The track later maintains a steady march as Horsegirl vocalize their anxieties away. Meanwhile, in the accompanying video, the band and their fellow Chicago scene-mates (“many of whom will play the Horsegirl record release party,” a press release notes) staged a joyous performance at Lowenstein’s otherwise empty elementary school.

Horsegirl say of their new music video in a statement:

The three of us filmed the “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” video over one day in Penelope’s elementary school. The video provides a small look into our Chicago youth scene—it includes members of bands like Lifeguard, Friko, Dwaal Troupe, and Post Office Winter all grouped into oddball bands with weird gimmicks. We always have the best time making our videos with our friends in spaces we feel connected to. All of our friends showed up with various assortments of clothing and props, like wooden spoons, a bowling shirt collection, and an accordion. We wanted to harness the strangeness of everything that was brought to us, and wanted to showcase all of the people and bands that mean so much to us.

Watch the “Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)” video below and see Horsegirl’s upcoming tour dates.