prinzhorn dance school

Prinzhorn Dance School, the Brighton-based duo from England, reduce indie rock to its most minimal and anxious core through barked, catchphrase vocals, jittery percussion, and sporadic twangy or deep-toned guitars across their lean, enigmatic tracks. Tobin Horn and Suzy Horn drew their moniker from Dr. Hans Prinzhorn, the collector of artwork produced by psychiatric patients, and launched their creative process by tracking material inside a disused Portsmouth chapel. Following roughly eighteen months of composition and a handful of live shows, the pair mailed a demo to five preferred imprints and secured a 2006 deal with DFA Records, marking them as the roster’s least synth-driven outfit. Their debut 7-inch, limited to five hundred copies and titled You Are the Space Invader/Eat, Sleep, appeared that November. Recording for the first album began in early 2007 at a Devon cottage before those takes were abandoned in favor of sessions inside a Sussex barn; the duo then headed to New York to finalize mixes alongside DFA’s James Murphy, Tim Goldsworthy, and Eric Broucek while supporting LCD Soundsystem on several dates. Visa complications later blocked a planned return for the spring North American leg of that tour. Up! Up! Up!/Hamworthy Sports and Leisure Center surfaced as the second single later that spring, followed by Crackerjack Docker in summer 2007 only weeks ahead of the self-titled debut LP. After promoting the album on the road, the pair maintained a sparse schedule of occasional performances and further recordings for several years. The 2010 release Seed, Crop, Harvest hinted at renewed activity, yet it was not until late 2011 that Happy in Bits arrived, signaling an imminent second album that materialized as Clay Class in January 2012. Their initial U.S. tour in 2013 prompted a more portable songwriting and tracking method, yielding 2015’s Home Economics, the pair’s most austere and exposed collection to date.