bitknot

feeble little horse — 2026

“Catchy as hell, loud as hell, and somehow even sharper than before, bitknot hits exactly where it should.”

Leaner and a tad meaner, feeble little horse make their triumphant return with bitknot. As soon as their sophomore album, Girl With Fish, hit our ears, we became instant fans at The Fire Note. The album easily and confidently stood out along with other releases such as Wednesday’s Rat Saw God, Hotline TNT’s Cartwheel, and Parannoul’s After the Magic to name a few.

After the departure of guitarist Ryan Walchonski, the band turns the knob slightly away from shoegaze and more toward computer-glitch experimentation. Slocum and company. The band’s self-proclaimed mantras are “catchy as fuck” and “loud as fuck” as the group sways from moments of childlike, twee whimsy to mortar shell fuzz blasts. It’s a concept that I feel like fans of Girl With Fish will easily understand and appreciate.

Opening the album strong, “Doorway” immediately reminds you why you’re a fan. Grabbing attention with pounding guitars the song then floats into a warm, electronic hum. “Rewind,” a standout track, has the same bouncy energy as “Paces” from the previous album. You’ll be singing the chorus on repeat as the earworm tunnels into your brain. “Dior” takes Goon’s song “Patsy’s Twin” in a different, inverted direction with a quickening pace. “Shopping” really cuts through the ears with its alarm blaring guitars. Slocum makes this one of the band’s sexiest songs with the double entendre, “And would you fuck with these shoes? I wanna look just like you.” It’s a real fun play on words that really grabs attention.

Wednesday, in the earlier years, is a great first point of reference to pull from. Just like Wednesday, feeble little horse uses edgy angst to tell their relatable, modern-day stories. The band also matches the influences of bands like Goon, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Spirit of the Beehive, Magdalena Bay, Ovlov, and even sometimes Water From Your Eyes. To not say the name My Bloody Valentine would be a bit of a crime but these glitch slackers take more pages out of the Swirlies/Lush playbook.

I have a lot of confidence saying that this album will be on a lot of end of the year lists. feeble little horse has matched the expectations of their sophomore album creating a catchy, immediately engrossing listen. I feel like the biggest difference between the band’s 2023 outing and bitknot is that the highs of Girl With Fish are very high and the strong consistency of bitknot drives it to a quick and satisfying listen that you’ll want to go back to multiple times. Basically, the band has trimmed down but that doesn’t subtract from this pixelated bundle.