Photo: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis

Horsey team with King Krule for the ghoulish “Seahorse”, from their debut album

It was back in November when we last heard from London upstarts Horsey with their euphorically messy “Sippy Cup”, but they finally return today with some big news. They’ll be releasing their debut album, Debonair, in July, and have shared a new song called “Seahorse”, which features King Krule (who just so happens to be brother of Horsey’s Jack Marshall).

The pivot between the liveliness of “Sippy Cup” and the macabre atmosphere of “Seahorse” shows Horsey’s dexterity, as we’re surely not in childhood memories anymore. King Krule takes lead vocals throughout, allowing Horsey to animate his haunted thoughts with echoing guitars and luminous keys, giving an imposing presence to his growling tales. Krule’s words shift lucidly between stark images, like falling through different planes in a nightmare; we start in vampiric isolation, and gradually spiral out into disconnected memories, descriptions of urban coldness, eventually – somehow inevitably – ending up in thoughts of violence and corrupt police. Horsey build a quiet torrent behind this labyrinthine poetry, and “Seahorse” concludes with both band and vocalist at full tilt, Krule ominously repeating: “another seahorse grows inside.”

Watch the visualizer, created by Jack Marshall, below.

Horsey’s Debonair arrives this summer via untitled (recs). You can find the band on Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram.