The Norwich country rockers tell us about their remarkable breakout year.
Photo: Georgia Ward | Words: Lloyd Bolton
Off the back of the release of their debut album 'Reservoir', Norwich band Brown Horse have been busy busy busy. They grabbed our attention with electrifying sets at Green Man and then End of the Road with a live show that brings the rough edges of Crazy Horse rock together with songwriting (shared between band members) that knowingly assimilates classic country folk with modern storytelling. From touring amid the frozen seas of Sweden to drawing some incredible responses to 'Reservoir', it really has been quite the year for the band.
Tell us about 2024 for Brown Horse.
2024 has been pretty wild. Our first album, 'Reservoir', came out back in January. We played an album launch show in Norwich and then a few weeks later headed to Stockholm where we began three months of touring in Scandinavia, the UK, and Ireland, with a week spent recording in the middle. We got to play a whole bunch of great festivals during the summer like Green Man and End of the Road, before playing a handful of UK dates in November, ending the year back where it began with a show in Norwich.
What is your Album of the Year and why?
So many good albums came out this year, and there are quite a few of us so it's kinda hard to nail down just one. If we had to pick, it'd probably be 'Manning Fireworks' by MJ Lenderman. Sad stuff, cool guitar stuff. He did such a good job. 'Rip Torn' is a real favourite. We also got down to see him at The Garage in London a couple of weeks ago which was pretty nuts.
How about Song of the Year?
Again, too hard to pick just one. Plenty of contenders like 'Sadness as a Gift' by Adrianne Lenker, 'Backyard Lover' by Merce Lemon and Jake Xerxes Fussell's 'Going to Georgia'. We thought Squirrel Flower doing 'Cortez the Killer' was rad as hell though…
Favourite live show you've seen 2024 and why?
One of our favourite bands, Florry, came over to the UK for the first time this year and we caught them play (as a duo) in London. Hoping they come back with the full band in 2025 as their unreleased songs sound amazing. Getting a few days off at Green Man meant we were able to catch so many unbelievable acts like Wednesday, Lonnie Holley and Tinariwen. Big Thief's headline set was really incredible. We've seen them quite a few times over the years but that was the best yet. In fact, I think for a few of us it might have been the best set we've ever seen.
What was your highlight of the year?
I guess we should mention some of the shows that felt like an especially big deal like John Dee in Oslo back in February, the Walled Garden at Green Man and the Woods Stage at End of the Road in the summer. Then also the show at MOTH Club a few weeks ago in London. But those are harder to take stock of in the moment just because we're kinda focussing on not fucking up. Beyond those bigger shows though, one thing that really stands out to me was being invited to play a couple of Jason Molina's songs (alongside Sam Amidon and Ben Woods of The Golden Dregs) at a tribute event which took place at End of the Road. The event, which was actually a screening of some documentary footage of Molina, was held in a fairly small room and it was completely packed with Molina fans who'd queued for a white to get in, so by the time the film ended there was quite a heavy atmosphere in there (in a good way), and it just felt really special to get to play those songs in front of people who really cared about them. There's one more thing that has stayed with me all year which isn't even directly music related. We played a show in the north of Sweden in February, in a town called Luleå. It gets so cold up there that the sea freezes, and the morning after the show we all walked out on the frozen ocean and there were these sleds you could push each other around on. It was just a really cool feeling to be able to have such a mad, completely unplanned experience as a result of being in a touring band.
What's your favourite thing someone's said about your music?
One thing that different people have said kinda consistently throughout the year is that even though we all each contribute our own songs in the band, there's still this coherence to the album and the live sets. I think we've found that pretty comforting, like proof that we're on the same wavelength, or something. Other than that, there have been some specific things written about 'Reservoir', like Allan Jones calling it an "album full of ghosts", which felt spot on to us. And then there's been some stuff that we couldn't quite believe, like Matt Wilkinson saying he listened to it three times in a row one morning and thought it was one of the best albums he'd heard in years haha.
…how about the strangest thing someone's said about your music?
We got sent one (not unfavourable) review of the album which described Patrick's vocals as halfway between Adrianne Lenker and the Gogolala Jubilee Jugband from the Muppets which we actually thought kinda nailed it tbf:
What are you looking forward to in 2025?
Releasing new music. Playing shows in new places. Rocking harder than we've ever rocked before. We're playing at The Lexington on January 14th as part of The Line of Best Fit's Five Day Forecast which'll be great. Then we'll be back at MOTH club on January 27th for a Bob Dylan night that Broadside Hacks are putting on. Absolute dream show for us, that's gonna be an amazing night.
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