Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, Porcelain Horse is the New Music Monday highlight!
Porcelain Horse is a unique New Music Monday group because even though they have dissolved as a band, an EP of theirs continues to top CFUV’s charts.
This local slowcore band was comprised of Eric Medcalf, Emma Wetherill, Zack Davies, Caleb Magee and Joseph Toms.
Together, they played slowcore music they describe as “dark, dissonant, heart-speak sprinklings, rhythmic flurries and melancholic homeostasis.”
Porcelain Horse began in early 2022 after Medcalf and Wetherill had both just come out of other bands that had dissolved.
“We just kind of met each other at a backyard show… We just started talking, hanging out and became fast friends,” Medcalf told Victoria Buzz.
“We both just threw out some bands we were really into and it kind of went from there.”
Toms soon joined the band on drums and the three started jamming as a trio, playing mostly nu-disco music before the trio expanded when Magee joined on bass.
Soon after the group became a four-piece, Toms moved away to Vancouver and Davies joined on drums.
Davies also has a solo noise project called Fussing which Medcalf says helped the band shift to a new sound more grounded in harder, more rhythmic sounds.
The band had a good run while all were rooted in Victoria playing numerous shows and recording a handful of singles before they put their most recent EP to track.
But eventually, just after recording their first EP, Wetherill made the move to Vancouver and life got in the way of trying to keep the project going.
It was around fall 2023 that the band officially ended things, but they had yet to release the fruits of their labour—that is until two years later in late 2025.
Porcelain Horse finally put out the self-titled EP, and to their surprise, the record has been charting on CFUV’s top 50 since its release.
Highlight track – “Consolation”
Medcalf says that while writing the first track of the EP, “Consolations,” he was being heavily influenced by the guitar riffs of the band Preoccupations, trying to come up with something twangy and challenging.
As for what the song is about, Medcalf explained that he wrote the lyrics while going through a hard time, but realizing that he had support.
“It’s really nice to reflect on the creation of this song because the lyrics are very much a thank you for the friendship and comfort that I found in my band members during a time that I was feeling particularly lonely in Victoria,” he said.
“I’m quite hard on myself when it comes to writing lyrics, but I’m proud that I committed to the message that I did for ‘Consolation’. Definitely chokes me up a bit to think back on.”
Listen to “Consolation” below:
Check out the Porcelain Horse self-titled EP in its entirety on Bandcamp, Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify.
Usually, New Music Monday tries to help bands by sharing when their next local shows will be, but because Porcelain Horse is no-more, the band decided to share their favourite memories of playing together instead.
Magee’s favourite Porcelain Horse show took place at the now defunct Carlton Club in November 2022.
“It was a bittersweet night, just months before the venue permanently closed,” he said.
“Everyone was celebrating the end of the school semester, making for a memorable, energetic evening.”
Medcalf also noted playing live as his favourite times with the band, especially because much of the music they wrote was only ever heard live and not recorded.
“But in a way that gives me a very illuminating hope, especially for the future of music in an AI-occupied, art-commodified world,” he explained.
To him, those times were made special because of the people he met through the shows. Medcalf added that for anyone looking to feel connection through music, they need look no further than a cook street pole for inspiration.
Davies said that the band’s foray into Vancouver to play 648 Kingsway in March 2023 was one of his highlights, because it was the only time they were able to play out of town.
“We played with Hillsboro, Geist and Grade School. Such a stacked bill,” exclaimed Davies.
“All amazing bands and very nice people. Fantastic turnout and audience reaction. Basically as good as an out of town show could be.”
Since Porcelain Horse dissolved, Davies now plays in Numbskull, Medcalf is working on solo stuff, but more just for fun, and the other members are also busy with new projects both in and out of the music scene.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Trackmeet releases first indie-powerhouse single ‘Johanna’
- New Music Monday: Prince Shima analyzes true crime obsession on latest album
- New Music Monday: CHARMED releases first single ‘Veronica’ on the power of love and loss
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“CFUV and Koby [Andrews] in particular are a godsend,” said Madcalf. “They are such supportive forces and super cool.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Porcelain Horse in the comments below!
