Shane Perry, who plays guitar, sings, and writes songs for the Nashville rock band The Medium, says the group’s new album, For Horses, “is about leaving home.” As such, the record moves deftly among in-between spaces: between vintage sounds and modern ones, humor and sincerity, old stomping grounds and whatever lies down the road. “I’m having trouble adjusting to the world,” singer-bassist and songwriter Sam Silva admits on “Same Boat,” a woozy cut that encapsulates the band’s knack for channeling classic pop and psych-rock.

The band, comprised of Perry, Silva, guitarist-vocalist Michael Brudi and percussionist Jared Hicks, again work with producer Jake Davis, who produced the band’s previous album, Get It While It’s Hot. Opening track “Don’t Stay Out” wastes no time signaling the shift, as a dazzling four-part a capella verse gives way to a piano-rock tune punctuated by filigrees of saxophone. Midway through the album, “Let’s Get Together” and “Space Force” form a sort of two-song suite, mirroring each others’ lyrics while showcasing the band’s stylistic breadth: lo-fi southern soul and a serrated, Motown-inspired rave-up. The songs on For Horses “just come to you, and then you kind of derive the meaning from it much later,” Perry explains. “We’ve been sitting with these for a long time.” Though some were written as recently as 2020, others date to well before Get It While It’s Hot; the set’s tightness and consistency is a testament to years of sharpening songs in live settings, and the fact that it’s their first album of songs all written after the band’s formation — it is, as Perry and Brudi both emphasize, “our record.”

Released August 19th via Nashville-based yk Records, For Horses, is available on vinyl and CD.