Opinion | Horse Jumper of Love is an underrated band

As a musician, I love discovering new bands to listen to, especially if they fall under a genre that I enjoy. I am a huge pop-punk, rock, indie and alternative music listener — plus whatever else you can think of related to those genres. Finding more bands that fall within these genres makes me incredibly happy, because it is just another band to fall in love with and to add to my Spotify playlists.

A couple of years ago, I had no idea about Horse Jumper of Love. It is an interesting band name, to say the least. I would be extremely confused if someone asked me years ago, “Do you listen to Horse Jumper of Love?” because I did not know who they were at the time. That is, until I discovered them in October 2022 when I found out they were opening for another band I listened to. One year later, I have just attended their own headlining show here in Pittsburgh.

Horse Jumper of Love is an indie rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Indie rock is the easiest way to describe their genre, but they have a shoegaze kind of vibe to them as well. If you are a fan of shoegaze, Horse Jumper of Love is a band for you. If you have no clue what shoegaze is, some examples of popular shoegaze bands include My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive.

Shoegaze is slower rock, with nice melodies and heavy reverb on the vocals and other instruments. Horse Jumper of Love reminds me of all of these bands put together, just with a modern twist. Although Horse Jumper of Love started in 2013, they did not release their first official album until 2016, which was a self-titled album. Besides their self-titled album, they have released three more, including “Heartbreak Rules” in 2023.

Horse Jumper of Love signed to Run for Cover Records in 2019. Many bands I listen to are signed to this record label, some being Turnover, who they toured with last year, Basement and Tigers Jaw. The kind of bands which usually sign with this label mainly represent genres of alternative, indie rock and pop punk. I saw Horse Jumper of Love for the first time live in November 2022 at Spirit Hall when they opened for Turnover. As mentioned earlier, I found out about Horse Jumper of Love around October 2022, when Turnover first announced their tour.

Not only does Horse Jumper of Love have about 345,000 listeners on Spotify — Spotify updates monthly listeners every day for artists — but they also seem to have a small following on other social media platforms. They have about 24,000 followers on Instagram and about 3,500 on X, formally known as Twitter. You might think that it seems like a good amount of followers, but when they do tours it is a lot different. As a fan, I know nothing about the demographics of those 345,000 listeners on Spotify nor of those 24,000 followers on Instagram. They could be from anywhere.

Horse Jumper of Love tends to play in smaller venues. For example, when they opened for Turnover, which has a larger following, they played at Spirit Hall which holds about 500 people. Their Oct.12 show in Bottlerocket Social Hall held around 200 people. Bottlerocket Social Hall reminded me of Spirit Hall and a few venues back home. I’m from Philadelphia, and there are many small music venues there, so I tend to enjoy small venues because it feels a lot more intimate as you are very close to the bands playing. 

Seeing Horse Jumper of Love at this venue was absolutely incredible. Bands playing smaller, more intimate shows is important for me because I believe it allows the bands to interact more with the fans. Horse Jumper of Love did just that. Not only is their music super relaxing, but with their soft vocals and reverbed guitar, Horse Jumper of Love made that small intimate concert into something even bigger for the fans and themselves. Compared to when they were an opening band for Turnover, the crowd at their headliner show was a lot more into them. 

I genuinely really enjoyed seeing them again, and Horse Jumper of Love is a band I would definitely see again for a third time. Not only does the band make amazing music, they even stayed after to talk to fans and were super sweet. Small, intimate venues like Bottlerocket Social Hall allow for so many fans to connect with bands they love.

Overall, Horse Jumper of Love is an indie rock band more people should listen to. If you are a fan of that genre and looking to find more bands, Horse Jumper of Love is the band for you. Not only are they a band that you can connect with on many levels, but they are also a band that knows how to deliver their love of music to the people who listen to it.

Irene Moran is a music enthusiast. Reach out to her at inm24@pitt.edu.