feeble little horse makes thrilling and wildly unpredictable songs that are a reflection of the joys that come with making music with your best friends. The Pittsburgh quartet’s sophomore album, Girl with Fish, which is out June 9 via Saddle Creek, was made focusing on intuition over intention: letting the magic of collaboration come first. “Anything that makes us laugh or puts a smile on our faces, we usually end up keeping in the songs,” explains drummer Jake Kelley. Across 11 self-recorded and self-produced tracks, the band careens from blissed-out pop to harsh noise, glitchy programmed drum beats, and off-kilter indie rock—sometimes all in one song. As a follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2021 debut Hayday, this LP, with its overwhelmingly inviting and emotionally resonant tracklist, is a document of four people trusting their instincts and most importantly each other.

For the members of feeble little horse, Hayday was originally going to be their first and last album. Guitarist Ryan Walchonski was moving to Washington D.C. for work while the rest of the band, including Kelley, guitarist-producer Sebastian Kinsler, and singer-bassist Lydia Slocum were all still in college. “When we made Hayday, we wrote really quickly to get it done before he moved away and we couldn’t make songs anymore,” says Kinsler. “But we realized making music with each other was too fun to walk away from. For this album, we got to take our time with every decision that went into it.” Despite the distance with Walchonski out-of-state and Slocum attending school a few hours away in central Pennsylvania, the band immediately started work on a new batch of songs, trading voice memos, new mixes, and song ideas remotely.