[rating=4.00]
Straddling the indie/classic rock/roots line of My Morning Jacket and Wilco, while incorporating the sensitive harmonies and instrumental angst of Built to Spill and Neil Young, Band of Horses is pure critic ear porn. Where 2006’s Everything All The Time wowed the blogosphere with their “pretty” reverb vocals, Cease to Begin does the same, despite a relocation from Seattle to South Carolina, which has done nothing to change their emotionally charged sound.
Following the departure of Matt Brooke, who went on to form Grand Archives, vocalist and song writer Ben Bridwell appears comfortable as the Horses lone go-to guy. On the opener, “Is there a Ghost,” Bridwell molds creepy with pop in the form of Everything hit ‘Funeral,” as he sings,” I could sleep when I lived alone/Is there a ghost in my house?" "Detlef Schrempf,” perhaps the most passionate indie song of the year, finds it’s only competition in ”No One’s Gonna Love You,” where the cliché sounds heartfelt with those achingly repeated Hallmark lines. Heavier anthems (“Lam On the Lam (In the City),” “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”) give balls to the weaker offerings (“The General Specific”) – which comes off like a poor Shins B-side – and the twangy closer “Window Blues.” It’s a bit on the condensed end, but Cease to Begin says everything it needs to say and more.
For more info see: http://bandofhorses.com/
