After a surprise hiatus, the Pittsburgh band makes an even surprisier return. Following the release of their breakthrough second album Girl with Fish in 2023, the Pittsburgh indie rockers feeble little horse went on indefinite hiatus—which makes their sensational third album bitknot a figurative and literal surprise, as it was released with zero prior announcement. If Girl with Fish introduced feeble little horse to a wider audience as left-of-center vanguards in the realm of nu gaze, bitknot blows their sound wide open with strummy alt-rock reveries (“Poison”) and starry-eyed dream pop (“Paris”). Now a trio (Ryan Walchonski departed in 2025), feeble little horse nonetheless sounds as muscular and brimming with ideas as ever. “Dior” opens with the type of serpentine melody associated with fellow Pennsylvanian Alex G before laying on some seriously thick riffage, while several bitknot cuts feature razor-sharp electronic programming, like the gorgeous digital dissolve that closes out album opener “Doorway.”