North Carolina has a storied indie rock and punk history, and now the next great band from the Tar Heel state is Kill Devil Hills’ Cor de Lux. The band’s third album, Year of the Horse, is an adrenaline rush, a collection of tracks that blend genre touchstones like Sonic Youth, Unwound, Drive Like Jehu, and other groups that effortlessly blend serenity and noise, hooks and freakouts. If any of the name-checked artists are your thing, Cor de Lux could become your new favorite band.
Produced by J. Robbins, who has been making bands sound phenomenal for decades, Year of the Horse makes Cor de Lux sound like they are ready for their moment. Their previous release, MEDIA, was more atmospheric and distant, but the songs on Year of the Horse land with power and heft while staying accessible. The record opens with “Blind Smile”, which builds and builds to an anthemic shout about how we get distracted by inessential arguments. From there, “The Cringe” blasts off like a lost track from Daydream Nation, delivering an adrenaline rush that demands a lighter passage before taking off again.
From there, “Ping Pong” provides a respite from thrashing noise until it doesn’t. Dawn Moraga and Tim Lusk share vocals and guitar duties, giving Cor de Lux an irresistible Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore dynamic. Lusk’s vocals lift “Ping Pong” and add a layer of poignancy since it is about the challenges of relationships. This back-and-forth is also powerful on “Cannibals”, with its critique of wealth and capitalism.
“The Deli” is another track that lands in the neighborhood with late-period Sonic Youth, driving, catchy, and accessible. It’s also one of the more playful-sounding tracks that still manages to include an Eat the Rich message. “The Western” is another high-energy rager that Moraga carries. “Long Face People” is a call to keep fighting the good fight (“Long face people / Have faith be more”), with swirling guitars that recall some of the prettier moments from Unwound.
“Bread Bag” is one of Moraga’s moments to shine, with Cor de Lux providing an atmospheric backdrop for her spoken verses that explode about halfway through the song before shifting to a towering breakdown for a moment before speeding up. It’s one of the most exhilarating tracks. Closer “Strawberries” is a haunting, moving track about Moraga tracking down her father, who is living unhoused in another city. It powerfully hints at issues with addiction and lost time, and it is all the better for not spelling everything out. In the final stretch, you can hear echoes of Dinosaur Jr.
When a band’s sound shows signs of influence by canonical bands, it can be easy to develop a calculus for them. I do this a lot with my friends who share my shorthand. It would be a mistake to call Cor de Lux a nostalgia trip or to reduce them to their influences. The way they break apart and reconstruct using pieces of some of indie’s greatest touchstones is masterful, and they have written some of the most exciting, replayable songs I’ve heard this year.