Horsegirl – La Belle Angele (Edinburgh Fringe 2026) 4 Stars ****

Those of a certain age will remember when the Edinburgh Fringe had a vast output of established bands as part of the official festival programme. This was particularly prominent from 2000 to 2011 via T On The Fringe’, which later became The Edge Festival. Outside of Fringe by the Sea the number of signed bands playing this year can be counted on one hand which brings us to tonight’s show at the legendary La Belle Angele. 

‘This is the first time we’ve been to Edinburgh’ states vocalist and guitarist, Penelope Lowenstein, ‘what a beautiful city you have’ she adds, following opening track ‘Where’d you go?’. This is as chatty as Horsegirl get tonight, with the remainder of the set seeing the band present as reticent, in-between songs. What they lack in conversation they more than make up for musically and the Chicago three-piece storm through an hour long set of lo-fi, fuzzy goodness. 

Last year saw the release of Horsegirl’s sophomore album, Phonetics On and On, a more expansive and experimental record than its predecessor Versions of Modern Performance. With that we only get one track from the debut tonight, with the majority of the follow up featuring alongside new unreleased songs. 

The deluge of obvious influences perhaps account for the diverse crowd tonight. You could rhyme off a multitude of bands after each song with comparisons to Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Camera Obscura and the Velvet Underground, to name but a few. There is a simplicity to the lyrics, and the shared vocals of Lowenstein and Nora Cheng evoke the low key range of Nico. 

A mention also has to be made about Gigi Reece’s drumming, and this is particularly evident during ‘Rock City’. Similar to the recorded version there is an exquisite gear change for the last 30 seconds of the track and her drumming live was just as ferocious as I hoped it would. 

Horsegirl may have slipped under the radar for many of us but they are a band that already appear to be on top of their game. Judging by the new songs played tonight we can only wait in anticipation for album number three. 

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All photos: Marc Bean