Holy Motors couldn't have picked an album title that better represents how artfully they distill their influences than Horse. While their debut Slow Sundown hinted at just how far West they could take their music, this time the Estonian band lean into their dreamy brand of twang. They wrote much of Horse while on the road in America, and the feeling of traveling through wide-open spaces reverberates on tracks such as "Matador," which sounds like tooling down a long highway in the dead of night, and the album-closer "Life Valley (So Many Miles Away)," which shimmers like a heat mirage. Visiting the land that inspired their fantasies seems to have breathed more authenticity into them: Holy Motors reimagine familiar sounds and landscapes with strikingly simple iconography that avoids cliches. Horse's lyrics and song structures take unusual twists and turns, and Eliann Tulve's vocals sound richer than ever. There's an oddly reassuring tone to her voice when she sings "the night has come in a lonesome town/where the red signs have lost their glow" over a classic Phil Spector beat on "Come On, Slowly." At times, Holy Motors sound more intimate and grounded than they did on Slow Sundown. "Country Church" kicks off Horse with a chugging assuredness that echoes the Velvet Underground, Cowboy Junkies, and of course, Mazzy Star. On the hushed duet "Road Stars," the band gets to the poignant heart of the American dream when they sing "I know one day I'll be better than before." They also revisit the lushness of their debut with glowing results on songs such as "Midnight Cowboy," a drifting slow dance number that sounds a little like Beach House in ten-gallon hats, and "Endless Night," which makes the most of the beautifully faded quality to their music. Possibly even more of a mood than Slow Sundown, Horse proves Holy Motors' atmospheric powers are only growing. ~ Heather Phares