Horse Lords

This fall 2026, Horse Lords bring their Demand To Be Taken To Heaven Alive! tour to Pioneer Works. Formed in Baltimore in 2010, the quartet—Sam Haberman, Owen Gardner, Max Eilbacher, and Andrew Bernstein—is known for their tightly interlocking rhythms and adventurous approach to composition.

Demand To Be Taken To Heaven Alive! marks a shift in the group’s practice, opening up the band’s precise, pattern-based structures to a wider set of influences and references. Its title nods to a line by Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, while its sonic and conceptual world draws on sources as varied as Anni Albers’ textile practice, Islamic geometric patterning, Fluxus-era experimentation, and the work of composers like Tom Johnson and Catherine Christer Hennix.

About the artist

Horse Lords is a Baltimore-founded experimental quartet formed in 2010, emerging from the city’s noise and leftfield rock scene. Known for their rhythmically intricate, genre-spanning approach, the group—Sam Haberman, Owen Gardner, Max Eilbacher, and Andrew Bernstein—has released numerous albums and collaborated widely, including with composer Arnold Dreyblatt. Now split between the U.S. and Germany, they continue to expand their sound and ensemble. Their latest album, Demand To Be Taken To Heaven Alive!, extends their exploratory practice through new instrumentation and a wide-ranging set of musical and conceptual influences.