Band of Horses Sophomore LP Slated to Kick Ass

After releasing their gently enrapturing breakout full length, Everything All the Time, just last year, Seattle indie rock outfit Band of Horses is already hitting the road (cue coconut sound effects) after recently finishing up a new LP down in South Carolina. If their sold out performance at DC's 9:30 club was any indicator, this forthcoming record, Cease to Begin, seems to be a win or at least a place. Damn, 2007 has been a good year in music.

The three or four new songs played on Tuesday showed a use of the layered guitar-driven arrangements for which the Band is known but also demonstrated a new approach to those arrangements, one that emphasizes the group's pop inclinations in the best way possible. Rather than becoming derivative or pandering, as second efforts all to often do, Cease's jams are more easy to listen to/pop thanks to more robust, even more confident compositions which build on the ideas from the Everything LP. Ben Bridwell's unmistakable crooning seems even more effective in these songs as his vulnerability becomes contrasted by more powerful grooves and choral hooks. Some fans may miss the quiet simplicity through intricacy formula used throughout their debut but, in my opinion, new tracks like "No One's Gonna Love You" and "Islands on the Coast" let the Horses stretch their legs and show how strong their message and music can really be. And the formula is still there, just integrated and multiplied and such. Any popiness that comes as a result seems incidental (although it most likely is not) and the songs retain their intelligence and earnestness.

At the same time, it may be difficult to judge the new LP from their live act which brought their single "Funeral" out from its dusty sad-pop cabinet where Everything lovingly placed it and onto a power-pop chopping block to be slashed up in a very concert-friendly way. With three guitars at work, songs both new and old felt more full of sound but never washed out or just noisy. They even closed with a seamless Otis Redding cover driving home the cool melancholy that permeates the Band's tone. Although I don't expect to see this promising band in stadiums any time soon, they certainly rocked harder than their recordings might have suggested. I can only hope this aggressive yet ever-pleasant sound has made its way to their second production and if it has, I think we can all look forward to an impressive fall album. Look for it early October.