I’ve always thought of Horse Jumper Of Love songs as charms. To the average person, they appear pretty but mundane; to someone who notices their hidden magic, they’re cosmic and one-of-a-kind. Since their beloved 2016 self-titled debut, the Boston group — made up of vocalist and guitarist Dimitri Giannopoulos, bassist John Margaris, and drummer James Doran — has been a reliable source of enchanting, idiosyncratic slowcore that’s distorted enough to be considered shoegaze. In the past few years, they’ve remained unstoppable; 2022 saw the release of their third studio album Natural Part, 2023 had the mini-album Heartbreak Rules, and now another album titled Disaster Trick is on its way.

Disaster Trick is rich with memorable melodies, poetic images, endearing witticisms, and moments of reverb-drenched transcendence. With help from Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman and Jake Lenderman (aka MJ Lenderman) as well as Squirrel Flower’s Ella Williams, Disaster Trick is an instant classic for fans of fuzz. Below, read my conversation with Giannopoulos about the LP and watch the music video for the new single “Word.”

There’s a song that’s titled after the painting Nude Descending A Staircase. I was wondering if that was an influence.

GIANNOPOULOS: I like that painting. I don’t know a lot about Duchamp’s other stuff. I liked the concept of that painting, dipping out from somewhere you are. I was thinking about staying the night with someone but then leaving their house really quick in the morning. That painting reminded me of that. It’s kind of chaotic and blurry, and you’re not actually nude but you feel vulnerable and you’re leaving somewhere after feeling vulnerable.

I remember that you worked at a museum. Was that where you saw the painting? Or did you see it somewhere else?

GIANNOPOULOS: No, I read about it in a Roberto Bolaño book, actually. The Savage Detectives. It’s one of my favorite books. That was a book I started reading when I worked at the museum when I was like 19 years old. The book’s just about some guys running around Mexico City, making art and getting into trouble. I think one of them reference that painting, so I looked it up and I liked it. But that was a book that I started reading when I was 19 and then I stopped reading it for a while and then I finished it again right around the time I was finishing writing [Disaster Trick].

Were there any other books that influenced the album?

GIANNOPOULOS: The first song “Snow Angel” was influenced by the David Berman poem “Snow.” The book Actual Air is probably one of my biggest influences as a songwriter in general. The first song “Snow Angel” sparked from reading the very first poem in that one which is called “Snow” and it’s about a farmer who shoots an angel and that’s why there are snow angels on the ground. I liked the idea of a snow angel being personified, so it kind of stems from that.

Have you read Nick Cave’s poems?

GIANNOPOULOS: Not really. But I have a bunch of Nick Cave’s books. I think the first one I got was The Sick Bag Song.

I really like that one.

GIANNOPOULOS: That one’s cool with all the lyrics on the bags you’re supposed to puke in. I started reading Faith, Hope And Carnage, which is not a poem book, but I really respect Nick Cave a lot. He just feels like a really brutally honest writer and person. I love the Bad Seeds and Nick Cave’s early stuff a lot. But I feel like he really shines as a writer. There’s something about the brutal honesty that I feel like I tried to do a little bit with Horse Jumper. My artistic theory is trying to unveil myself or trying to not use the song as a veil too much but as a vessel to just be totally open. I feel like Nick Cave can kind of do that in his writing and interviews.

With shoegaze music, it often is literally a veil of loud guitars and you can’t even hear the lyrics. I feel like Horse Jumper stands out because it’s very shoegazey, but you can hear the words and the lyrics are very interesting and obviously a lot of attention is put into them. For example, “A Tune Drifts Out The Window” — I love those lyrics. It comes across to me as an actual story. Is that something you’re trying to do?

GIANNOPOULOS: I guess yes and no. That one in particular feels like a sort of story. I wrote that one because the bass guitarist in my band, John, used to live right down the street and I used to imagine when I was playing songs in my room that the tune would just leave the window and travel to his house. So it’s kind of literal in that sense, but there are definitely stories to be told. A lot of the times, I don’t really know what it is. Then afterwards, I’ll look at the song and be like, “Okay, that’s what I’m trying to say, that’s the story from my life in this song.”

It seems like if you go in trying to write a story, it can sound forced. But if you have fragments that you put together, then naturally a story will just happen and it sounds more organic. Do you identify with that?

GIANNOPOULOS: Yeah, totally. The songwriting process for me is really like: I walk around all day, doing whatever, then just write shit down in the Notes app. Then, at the end of the day, put it all together. A song is like a little puzzle. When you get it, it’s so satisfying. It does literally feel like I just completed a puzzle.

How often do you do that? I’m guessing a lot since you put out a mini-album last year and you’re putting out another album this year.

GIANNOPOULOS: I try to do it as often as possible, but it’s just whenever the spirit of the song flows through you. It’s really hard to force songs for me. We put out the mini-album, we’re putting out this album. Right now I’m at this point where I’m just like not feeling it at all. I just can’t write anything. But I don’t feel bad about that, because I feel like when you’re at a point where you’re not putting out much, it’s the time when you’re supposed to be taking in a lot of stuff. Like reading, watching movies, listening to albums. So I don’t feel bad about not being able to write. And if it never happens again, not a big deal because you can’t force it. Like what are you going to do — write an album just because you have to because a label wants you to? This sounds goofy but you just gotta be true to yourself.

Do you ever get any ideas from dreams?

GIANNOPOULOS: I used to a lot more but I haven’t in a while I haven’t been dreaming as much as I used to in the past. There’s definitely songs of mine that feel like dream journal entries. I think the song “Death Spiral” had a little dream reference stuff.

Doesn’t that song also mention Joni Mitchell?

GIANNOPOULOS: Yes.

What’s going on in that song?

GIANNOPOULOS: That song was about when someone who I care about very deeply was on a hike, and they told me that when they were resting they saw eagles in death spiral. I’ve never seen that before. It’s when they lock talons and fall down from the sky, but it’s a mating ritual. I couldn’t believe that they saw something like that, and I just felt so inspired by thinking about someone else seeing something like that. And the Joni Mitchell part was because they told me they were listening to Joni Mitchell on their headphones at the time.

You recruited MJ Lenderman, Karly Hartzman, and Squirrel Flower for the album. How did that happen?

GIANNOPOULOS: We recorded in Asheville at Drop Of Sun where Karly and Jake were living at the time. We’re friends; we went on tour together a while ago. We went to their house for a barbecue when we had a little time off and we just chatted. Then they just were like, “You should come by and just see what happens.” And I like having friends on the album. It just feels good for someone I know to put their thing on this too, so the album is not just mine.

Disaster Trick is out 8/16 on Run For Cover.