Sugar Horse announce new record, Grand Scheme Of Things, out on October 4th via Pelagic Records

Formed in what is now considered to be the utopian dreamscape of 2015, Sugar Horse grew slowly at first. Far from fully formed, but steadily gaining limbs, heads and vital organs. Finally, 2019’s DRUJ followed swiftly by 2020’s DRUGS saw them hit on a relentless stride of eclectic releases that simultaneously confused and entranced audiences. After releasing 2021’s The Living Long After, as well as the collaborative Waterloo Teeth EP and a split with LLNN, Sugar Horse toured not only with the aforementioned LLNN, but also with post-rock luminaries 65daysofstatic across Europe, complemented by dates with Pianos Become The Teeth, Liturgy, Chat Pile and an appearance at ArcTanGent festival.

Now, the monolithically heavy and uniquely mercurial UK quartet have announced their new record, Grand Scheme Of Things, which is set to take the band even further in terms of sound. On Grand Scheme Of Things, Sugar Horse comment, “This album was intended to be a sideways step. A move away from the kind of thing that is expected of us… if anything is at all. What I mean by that, is the songs are more direct. They take a much shorter amount of time to “get to the point”. We also wanted to make this one noticeably “less Metal”. While we love being a bit boneheaded and confrontational, we definitely wanted to explore the more melodic, song-based side of the band’s sound. Normally you’d see shortened song structures and more singing and think “Oh these guys are going for gold….they wanna get on the radio and make millions of bloodstained pounds.” Well…you’re very much entitled to think that if you wish, but it felt like more of a songwriting challenge than anything else to be honest. We’ve done the whole drawn out, endless Space Rock thing a good few times now and it would’ve been easy to rest on those laurels. Do something we’re comfortable with. Alas, that is not really the point of this band. We’d much prefer to make it difficult and take the long route.”

With the announcement also comes the release of the record’s first single, “New Dead Elvis”, of which you can see the video for below this article. About this new single, the band comments, In the words of Sugar Horse: “This song is about reflecting on celebrity culture around death and its glorification, immediately following the death of my father. There is a romanticisation of “the tortured artist” or “the biblical hedonist” that follows celebrity and music culture around that I find pretty appalling. It’s something that I believe is responsible for the deaths of a large number of some of the most profoundly talented people that have ever graced this miserable planet and it should be prevented as soon as possible… Alas, the mob want their blood and I fear it shall persist until the sun swallows us.”

Grand Scheme Of Things will be released on October 4th via Pelagic Records. Pre-orders are now available here.