Album review.

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin (Sub Pop)

Sub Pop surely have to be the best label in the world by now. Look at the roster, both past and present: Afghan Wigs, Sebadoh, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Sunny Day Real Estate... the list goes on forever. And now, Band of Horses. Seriously, these guys could be the best band of the past decade or so. This is no flash in the pan. Pretty good for an indie label.

Opening with the repetitive hook-based Is There a Ghost?, this album seems to be bang on the mark from the start. All jangly guitars over an ethereal yet piercing vocal from frontman Ben Bridwell for the first minute or so, before smashing into a crashing indie-rock/shoegaze wall of noisy guitars and pummeling rhythms, Bridwell's voice almost yelping over the top. It hits its crescendo as it drops into second track Ode to LRC, a more dramatic, yet still exciting affair, with more crashing guitar sounds and driving rhythms, even incorporating strings.

No One's Gonna Love You might just have the most beautiful vocal melody I've ever heard. As love songs go, this one seems to be sweet without overdoing the sugar-coating, romantic without the cheese. Nice to hear a love song that's not so overzealous. Detlef Schrempf continues the album, a nice, atmospheric tune, bringing the album to a peaceful calm before Band of Horses drop what could almost be a barn-dance tune in The General Specific. With it's country rhythms and hand claps, you can imagine yourself line-dancing (probably safer to imagine it without the cowboy hat) right up until it's abrupt end.

The short instrumental Lamb on the Lam (in the City) begins the second half of the album before Island on the Coast crashes in, its forward-ho!-style rhythms at times reminding you of a more modern-rock interpretation of the Bonanza theme tune, with Bridwell's vocals sounding like they could almost be those of your unlikely dancing partner. Marry Song and Cigarettes, Wedding Bands are more serious affairs, the latter with its heartbreaking vocal melodies and subtle, yet touching guitars, and they make for a masterful build-up to album closer Windows Blues.

You probably couldn't dream up a more beautiful closing song than Windows Blues. Soft, moving and - possibly a first for an apology song - totally unpatronising. Sliding guitars, banjos and soft rhythms compliment Bridwell's yet-again perfect vocals. Not straining, just open and honest. There's no attempt to reach another level here, no pushing the vocals for the last moment. This isn't music for people to cheer along to, it's there to listen to.

Band of Horses' sound is a unique one. At times almost country and western, but with a modern indie-pop suss, injected with shoegaze guitars... there's nothing here that can be accused of being a weak link. The rhythms, basslines, guitars, vocals - all are equal. At times it's as if they couldn't exist without each other. So what is it? Alt.Country? Indie-Rock? Post-Grunge? I don't know. All I know is this: not enough people will hear this album. That's not to say that it won't reach a lot of ears... it probably will. But not until every single ear on planet Earth has heard this album will it have been heard enough. Transcendent stuff.
9/10