The press release for horsegiirL's debut album begins with ayahuasca. The artist — who broke through with her 2022 EP Farm Fantasies (with Berlin producer MCR-T) and followed with last year's VIP - Very Important Pony EP on Pitchfork's own label — apparently suffered a bout of industry burnout and decided to decompress in Ecuador, where she participated in an ayahuasca ceremony. The experience, she says, revealed that her 'life's purpose was to help guide humans to greater awareness of how they are affecting the world.'
This is a lot of context for a debut album announcement. But it's also the kind of context that, for a certain type of artist, is genuinely load-bearing: the experience clarified something about what the music needed to be. Nature Is Healing, the debut album, arrives June 5 on RCA Records, and it expands horsegiirL's trance roots to include downtempo, electroclash, and hyperpop. The production team includes Casey MQ, A.G. Cook — one of the most influential producers in PC Music and hyperpop — and horsegiirL's longtime collaborator Luvhunter.
Lead single 'Earth is Turning' features a visualizer with the artist caressing a bird of paradise leaf, which is either very silly or very sincere. The music is warm and slightly psychedelic, with the same trance-influenced production that made Farm Fantasies interesting applied to a more pop-forward songwriting sensibility. A.G. Cook's influence is audible in the production choices but doesn't dominate.
The album's stated purpose — to 'remind human beings that they are part of nature' — is the kind of ecological pop-art mission statement that could go several ways. The best version of this record is a genuine synthesis of environmental consciousness and dance-pop energy; the worst is a lifestyle album that sounds good in yoga studios.
Based on 'Earth is Turning,' we're cautiously optimistic. The music is more emotionally grounded than the press release might suggest, and A.G. Cook's production fingerprints are a reliable indicator of quality control. June 5.