Mail the Horse’s sun-baked indie rock rolls like endless plains on a cross-country road trip, relaxed nearly to the threshold of sleep. “Backlash” wavers under a sheet of dust, psych-rock guitars noodling over the twang of a subdued country backdrop. It’s the kind of rock as at home in a Williamsburg bar as a Topeka barn, a universal style meant to unite. This sort of county-fair indie will stay in our cultural consciousness until the day the last guitar is smashed onstage, so it’s a relief that “Backlash” proves we still have a ways to go before we hit the bottom of the barrel.
“I think maybe subconsciously we wanted to project an attitude of inclusion and community with the video,” says vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Michael Hesslein. “We cast the Elephant Man as a regular young wannabe rock dude who works in the service industry and lives to enjoy a joint with his buddy after work, and to inspire people with music at night. It’s what we’ve all been doing for years.”
Magnolia came out on June 10.