One of the success stories of the last couple of years have been Brown Horse. Since their first album Reservoir landed at the start of 2024 there has been a steady rise in their star, to the point that AUK’s announcement of their third album declares them to be “Norwich superstars.” If there is indeed a “new indie-country boom”, then they are definitely leading the charge. Even if you just see that tag as some of the more mainstream press discovering the americana we all know and love then they are still one of the brightest prospects we have.
I saw them live at Newport’s Le Pub back in April 2024 and with six of them crammed onto a stage filled with accordions, keyboards and pedal steel guitars there was precious little room for actual people. While that set was dominated by the first album, they did introduce two songs which ended up on the follow up, All The Right Weaknesses. One of the highlights of that record was Wipers. It’s a slow stately ballad which highlights all the best and most distinctive parts of Brown Horses sound. The interplay between Rowan Braham’s accordion and Emma Tovell’s pedal steel sets up a dense soundscape over which Patrick Turner intones the words in a world-weary drawl.
When it comes down to it there is nothing startlingly new about Brown Horse; comparisons to Neil Young, Wilco, and Drive By Truckers have been made, but it’s how the jigsaw is put together that is often the most important thing. With a sound that is often on the Crazy Horse side of raucous when they do create something gentler they take some of the standard shapes of country, the weeping pedal steel or banjo, and mix them with their past as a folk quartet, with the accordion to create something that has a enough of a twist to dodge suggestions of paint-by-numbers americana. When they do let loose, the wall of sound comes as much from the less rock instruments as the rhythm guitar and drums. This live-in-the-studio version of Wipers is Brown Horse at their best.
Having shrunk to four core members (Patrick Turner, Nyle Holihan, Emma Tovell, and Rowan Braham) you have to hope that the on-stage presence is still supplemented by others to produce the dense full sound that has been their hallmark thus far. While they are still playing mostly club level gigs the prospect of a wider audience across the pond should boost them to bigger stages here as well. There are few bands who deserve that acclaim more than Brown Horse.
