Cor de Lux‘s YEAR OF THE HORSE is the sound of a band that has spent years building its own world from the margins. Formed in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, the quartet has developed its identity through self-released records, relentless live shows and a songwriting process rooted in instinctive collaboration. Across their first two records, the band established a tense, unpredictable blend of post-hardcore urgency, shoegaze atmosphere and guitar-driven experimentation; on YEAR OF THE HORSE, that chemistry is pushed into its most expansive form yet.
The album was recorded with J. Robbins and captures Cor de Lux’s live intensity without sacrificing its more atmospheric side. Songs such as ‘The Cringe’ shift between explosive momentum and haunting guitar passages, while elsewhere the band explores the fractures of contemporary life, questioning ideological certainty, social division and the erosion of empathy. Intimate moments sit alongside the heavier material, with the interplay between Dawn Moraga and Tim Lusk’s guitars and vocals giving the record a restless, human quality.
More than anything, YEAR OF THE HORSE documents a band whose music has grown organically from years of playing, experimenting and simply following an idea wherever it leads. Now releasing their first album through Ipecac Recordings, Cor de Lux arrive at a new stage without abandoning the DIY instincts and creative freedom that brought them there.
To mark the release of YEAR OF THE HORSE, we’ve asked Cor de Lux to share three of the key influences behind the album as part of our Under the Influence feature.
Blonde Redhead – Misery is A Butterfly
Dawn Moraga (singer/guitarist): I remember where I was when I first heard Blonde Redhead. I had moved to Nicaragua to live for a few years and was watching a surf film with Dane Reynolds and a Blonde Redhead song came on. The sandwich I was eating started rolling around in slo-mo in my mouth, as the sound of the chips I stuck in between the bread were interfering with the sound I was hearing on the TV, and I wanted to spit out the food in my mouth to focus but swallowed fast almost choking as I grabbed the remote to rewind the DVD, as the group of sweaty surfer guys annoyed at my gesture mumbled – and I just stayed locked in listening. Blonde Redhead. I would say I went down a rabbit hole with them and Pinback in the early 2000’s and the album Misery is a Butterfly really just grabbed me emotionally.
‘Elephant Woman’ teasing you with the intro and then coming in to the most full beautiful melody paired with Kazu’s voice that is somehow from a different spiritual realm. Some bands try to make music and they do great … some it just eludes from their minds and hearts being together, and I truly feel that way about this band. It’s the most natural organic state of dissonance that creates a dark moody unity that doesn’t follow any other footsteps. It’s as if dreams had a soundtrack for me and I find myself completely compelled by this band. ‘Maddening Cloud’ is another favorite on this album as it reminds me of if Charlie Chaplin was floating on clouds all the while swing dancing with a lady in a red dress as they float away under his umbrella.
The whole album is great. I should probably stop talking about it however.
Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary
Tim Lusk (guitarist/singer): I was 16 in my blacked out Dodge van in northern Virginia. Me and my best friend Darryl just officially started our so serious band called “zelus.” Darryl somehow always showed up with some new CDs to pop in. Butthole Surfers, Pimus, Violent Fems, Fugazi, Talking Heads—the first few I can remember when we first started playing together.
But one day, one hot Virginia humid ass day with no AC and stuck in traffic, he says, “dooood. I almost forgot… I got this new CD by sunny something, hold on.” He opens up his backpack and pulls out—wait, remember when CDs had that big ass extra paper packaging to make it larger? Yeah, pulled that out and started ripping it open. I’m watching the road, sort of, listening to the crackling. He said, “wait no, it’s Sunny Day Real Estate.” I said, “what!” He took out my mix CD and popped it in.
‘Seven’, first track, started to play. The guitar riff instantly intrigued, then the drums on the next part elevated, then it cut out to vocals! We were smiling like fools, sitting, sweating in summer traffic. Track after track, we listened on the way back home. So inspired to play, like you know, when you first started really making up things that clicked and how exciting it was.
It was the heavy, powerful, pushing and laid back angst in the vocals that resonated with us. We were so stoked. Finally at Hopscotch in Raleigh 2024 I got to see them live and I’m still inspired. When I first met Dawn it was bringing up Sunny Day Real Estate that made sure she knew I had taste in music, and honestly we contribute that conversation to the start of the band.
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
John Bliven (bass): I happened to see Bloc Party at a big multi day festival in Baltimore in 2008. I don’t think I knew much about the band at the time and was really into it and energized by how much the crowd was feeling it. Silent Alarm became one of those keystone albums I would come back to again and again to experience a range of delivery including the absolute unyielding drive on ‘Helicopter’, the grooviness of ‘Banquet’ and the ethereal yet introspective closer ‘Compliments’. That variety has stuck with me when trying to develop new songs that have personality which can lead to an eclectic mix when everyone else throws their ingredients in the pot. For me that’s the fun in all of this. I like hearing us creep outside of our genre and knowing we really aren’t beholden to stay locked in it.
