Photo by Kinkade Ruppert

The impression left behind on Prize Horse’s 2024 breakthrough debut full-length, Under Sound, is how the Minneapolis trio blurred the corners in the modern shapes of heavier ‘gaze and slowcore into one in a way that made them amorphously atmospheric.

The band has since been on the road seemingly endlessly with a diverse cast of touring counterparts — right now, it’s their Midwestern indie rock polymath peer Graham Hunt, then it’s their former labelmates in ’90s post-hardcore revivalists Spit House — refining that craft, and have just joined the heavy hardcore and metalcore label Closed Casket Activities for their sophomore follow-up, keeping that second-guessing in how they will continue to shape-shift moving forward.

“The Big Picture” is our first glimpse into Prize Horse’s next phase, and it’s a clearer one. The atmosphere’s density is harder and in turn, broodier, and the crushing weight of it can be felt from the collapsing ceiling in its end stages. “Feel my head go through the wall / If I’m fortunate to see at all.” Sometimes, you just need to let the mood do what it does. In Prize Horse’s case, the view is vividly accurate.

Price Horse’s “The Big Picture” single is available now on Closed Casket Activities.