NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
I must admit I get very excited every time a young band emerges from high school and their parents’ garages to come out rocking their guitars and drums. With technology allowing more and more new artists to make music on just their computers, it’s refreshing to see young people pick up and get excited about actual instruments. While some may say that rock is dead, I just don’t believe it. The generation growing up right now have much to feel disillusioned about, whether it’s the cost of education, the environment, the increasingly open racism and misogeny, or the anger and divide taking over this country. A resurgency of the punk movement is probably right around the corner. Horsegirl is one such band out of Chicago, comprised of Gigi Reece (drums), Nora Cheng (guitar/vocals), and Penelope Lowenstein (guitar/vocals). It’s not clear how to categorize their music because you can hear a little punk, shoegaze, grunge, lo-fi, dream rock, etc…basically anything alternative that came out of the 90s. “Billy”, the first single off their debut studio album “Versions of Modern Performance” really put the band on the map as it was identified as one of the Songs You Need to Know by Rolling Stone Magazine. Now that the school year is over, Horsegirl is back on tour, this time with Cindy (the band). Since Horsegirl is very supportive of other young bands out of Chicago, I was surprised that one of them wasn’t selected to open. Nevertheless, on Friday night (June 22nd), they stopped at the Rec Room in Buffalo to show us what they’ve got.
The first opener was a local Buffalo act called The Burkharts, a self-described surf-pop band that started the evening with some upbeat music. Since much of the audience this evening was made up of “slightly older” music fans, I’m sure the nostalgic vibes brought some excitement to their early set. It’s never a bad thing for the opening band to bring a smile to faces.
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When Cindy, a band from San Francisco, took the stage, they slowed things down a bit. Led by guitarist/vocalist Karina Gill, Cindy is the epitome of dream rock. I don’t know that the crowd at the Rec Room was quiet enough for us to feel the full effect of the music but it was a lovely set and I’ll have to check out some more of their music.
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Horsegirl kicked off their set with a new song “Where’d You Go?”. There wasn’t a whole lot of interaction with the audience, but most in the crowd were moving their feet or bobbing their heads to the music. One of my favorites of the night is “Anti-Glory”, where you can clearly hear Interpol’s influence on the band. Horsegirl impressed the crowd enough where there was quite a long queue to buy merch and meet the band afterwards. Also, since they played several new songs and if social media is any indication, the band has completed recording their sophomore studio album. I’m looking forward to new music, to seeing Horsegirl every chance I get, and to watch them continue to develop into a force to be reckoned with.
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