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May 08, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Fredrik Balck I Break Horses

Sweden’s I Break Horses (the project of Maria Lindén) has released a new album, Warnings, today via Bella Union. Now that the album is out, you can stream the whole thing here. Also, today we posted our new interview with Lindén, yesterday we posted our rave 9/10 review of the album, and this week she’s shared two new live session videos for the album’s “Depression Tourist” and “Death Engine.” Check out the live videos and album stream below. Read our interview here. Read our review here.

Lindén had this to say about the “Depression Tourist” live session video in a press release: “I wanted this song to sound as if it was broadcasted from space, the loneliest place I could imagine. As I obviously couldn’t perform it up there I filmed this version in the loneliest field I could find in Malta.”

Previously Lindén shared Warnings’ first single, “Death Engine,” via a video it. It was our #1 Song of the Week last week. Then Lindén shared the album’s second single, “I’ll Be the Death of You,” also via a video for it. “I’ll Be the Death of You” was also our #1 Song of the Week. Then she shared the album’s third single, “Neon Lights,” via a colorful lyric video for the new song. “Neon Lights” was once again our #1 Song of the Week. Then she shared the album’s fourth single, “The Prophet,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Warnings is I Break Horses’ first new album in six years, the follow-up to 2014’s Chiaroscuro. “It has been some time in the making,” Lindén acknowledged in the previous press release announcing the album. “About six years, involving several studios, collaborations that didn’t work out, a crashed hard drive with about two years of work, writing new material again instead of trying to repair it. New studio recordings, erasing everything, then recording most of the album myself at home.”

For a while Lindén was working on instrumental tracks. “It wasn’t until I felt an urge to add vocals and lyrics,” she said, “that I realized I was making a new I Break Horses album.”

Eventually she got producer/mixing engineer Chris Coady (Beach House, TV on the Radio) involved to mix the album. “Before reaching out to Chris I read an interview where he said, ‘I like to slow things down. Almost every time I love the sound of something slowed down by half, but sometimes 500% you can get interesting shapes and textures,’” Lindén said. “And I just knew he’d be the right person for this album.”

As its title suggests, Lindén said Warnings deals partly with our troubled era. “It’s not a political album,” she said, “though it relates to the alarmist times we live in. Each song is a subtle warning of something not being quite right.”

As for “Death Engine,” Lindén said: “The song, which was written in connection to a close friend’s suicide attempt, also reflects upon the increasing reports that suicide is the second leading cause of death among Generation Z, with this age group having more mental health issues than any other generation.”

Summing up Warnings and the delay between albums, Lindén said: “Nowadays, the attention span equals nothing when it comes to how most people consume music. And it feels like songs are getting shorter, more ‘efficient’. I felt an urge to go against that and create an album journey from start to finish that takes time and patience to listen to. Like, slow the fuck down!”

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