Horse Lords

Do not be alarmed: During the middle of a record or set by Horse Lords, it is entirely normal to believe that this Baltimore quartet, which makes very complicated and theoretically rooted math-rock sound so very fun, is the best band in the world. Using bass, drums, guitar, and sheets and wires of saxophone, they turn very basic elements into seemingly impossible athletic tricks, their repetition of rhythm and melody unlocking some key to universal order. Horse Lords began 15 years ago as a way to explore Just Intonation, or to shift out of the ordinary tuning systems of American music and audaciously “unlock a certain latent potential of rock music,” as guitarist Owen Gardner once put it. “Toward the Omega Point,” from 2016’s Interventions, moved with the weirdest boogie, while “May Brigade,” from the 2022 stunner Comradely Objects, felt like a score for a film about bustling city traffic, all tense and crowded. Horse Lords have even lent their ecstatic approach to their Just Intonation elders, collaborating with Arnold Dreyblatt on 2025’s brilliant Extended Field.

But Horse Lords have never sounded as downright fun or instantly magnetic as on 2026’s Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!, a dozen tracks of endless wonder and surprise. It is not only their first album with vocals but also with additional horns, extra textures that give Horse Lords something to push against. Boosted by clarinet, trombone, and surprise acoustic guitar, “After the Last Sky” is Horse Lords as big and labyrinthine as they’ve ever been. And when it’s only the core quartet at work, they sound more playful than ever, as if smiles are visible even amid the fierce focus such material requires. It is too little to say that Horse Lords is more than the sum of its complicated parts; the way these atomized pieces cohere is a testament to the possibility of collective effort, to people sharing the load and making something that really does feel like the best in the world.