With a thrilling senior album, Boston-based Horse Jumper of Love is back with a vengeance as they explore new and creative sounds. With the lyrics written by frontman and vocalist Dimitri Giannopoulos, the band have a passionate story to tell which are brought to life by bassist John Margaris and drummer James Doran. The trio released their new album with a spirit of soothing nostalgia, with many songs reflecting on Giannopoulos’ own personal experiences and thoughts, with particular selections of songs also being influenced by art and literature.
The first track of the album, “Snow Angel”, showcases the influence of literature on them, being directly inspired by the poem “Snow” from David Berman’s book “Actual Air.” The song is a slow, yet aggressive, beginning to the passionate album. Though Giannopoulos somewhat mumbles and it can be difficult to understand what he is trying to say, he sings soothingly, saying “My teacher is gone / Now we sing his funeral song,” adding another element of sorrow to the track. As the song gets quiet, it begins to focus mainly on the emotion in Giannopoulos’s voice, accompanied by a softer instrumental.
In some contrast, “Word”, which directly follows it, opens with a slow, shaky beginning. It creates an offbeat and broken sound, but this helps make it a captivating listen. Though it could be compared to other slow and sad songs, the effects and delivery help keep the track feeling original. The delivery of the notes and each word adds to a feeling that something is wrong, which the lyrics entirely coincide with. Giannopoulos sings, “Last night we had a fight / You blamed it on the moon,” describing being in a state of conflict for a strange reason, matching the instrumental as it becomes more and more off. The sounds come together to create not only an engaging song, but a mood of something being amiss.
“Wait by the Stairs” is a more intense song from the album, with a strong rhythm that gets accompanied well by passionately delivered lyrics. It adds an element of metal to the album, as a rougher beat that acts a rising pulse throughout the song. Through the instrumental and lyrics, the song is a romantic one, with a heartful and hardcore beat that matches the rest of the album. Throughout the track, Giannopoulos repeats, “Wait by the stairs / Kiss me at the fountain,” this recurring lyric fully demonstrating the singer’s deep-seated feelings toward this person. The song fully encompasses these feelings, being able to immerse me into the emotions that the singer experiences.
Funnily enough, “Heavy Metal” doesn’t contain as much of a rugged and hardcore beat as its previous track did; however, it more than makes up for that with its many impressive guitar solos. Glum with a good rhythm, the track nicely combined the song’s beat and the flow of each member’s delivery. This track contrasts the previous one in another way, while “Wait by the Stairs” was a love song, “Heavy Metal” tells the story of a bitter split. With the lyrics, “You woke me up with water / You said I sleep like a liar / I hope it doesn’t pass you by,” Giannopoulos talks about splitting up with someone who bears ill will towards him, a feeling that is not mutual. Though this person feels much hostility toward him, the singer only wishes good things upon them. The narrative is passionately told through the impressive and creative sounds of the band, allowing both lyrics and beat to fully convey the singer’s woe to the listener.
Most of the time, this would not be the kind of music that appeals to me. However, Horse Jumper of Love manages to create an album that reached me through a variety of different sounds and a balance of genres, like metal and softcore rock, that they’ve played around with. Though it didn’t affect me so much that I’ve become a fan of the band or their genre, some of their songs still stick with me, with favorite tracks like “Today’s Iconoclast” and “Death Spiral” not leaving my head anytime soon.
