Band of Horses Cease To Begin
Genre: Rock
Stand Out Tracks: Is There A Ghost, No One’s Gonna Love You, Islands On the Coast
Record Label: Sub Pop Records
By BMcMahon
Band of Horses have beards, wear flannel shirts and look like a bunch of 70s rockers at first glance. And they are in a sense, if being a South Carolinian, not shaving for weeks and playing the guitar makes you a 70s rocker. This doesn't sum up what defines the band, however. Band of Horses, who signed with SubPop Records in 2006, are not exactly your typical rock stars, since they’ll admit they don’t have the greatest musical playing talents. On top of that, they really don't consider themselves Southern since they describe themselves as a Seattle-based band; after all, they did form there. But what drew the band to Charleston to begin working on their album was something the band wanted to do simply because they love it there. Perhaps its was their way of getting away from ‘everything’ happening to them 'all the time' in Seattle so they could get back to the roots of the band.
Now that Band of Horses acclaimed first album, Everything All The Time, has given the band stardom rock bands dream about, the task for Cease To Begin to live up to their hit debut will be a tremendous one. For bands that use all of their habitual songs on their first release, writing more material for a second album becomes a giant task. Not only were the songs they've been playing for years easily recorded by means of their repetition prior to EATT, but Band of Horses grew out of practice from writing. Writing again for the first time in years and with added pressure to live up to EATT, Band of Horses style certainly changed as the band grew on their foundation and progressed into their second phase of the band’s life: the subtle evolvement.
Carrying over a few songs to their new album, the band relied on their favorites to appease the crowd, but soon realized a ten-track performance would not be long enough or provide enough variation show to show. In January this year, Band of Horses began working on new material, and started incorporating some of their new material, including one of their laid-back tracks "No One's Gonna Love You" in their live shows. The band easily picked up their favorite songs, collaborated once lead singer, Ben Bridwell, finished writing, and songs were finished quickly.
Now that former member and guitarist Mat Brooke left the band, Band of Horses is now composed of three members, Ben Bridwell, Creighton Barrett and Rob Hampton. Bridwell, who supplies the vocals, carries an earnest, meaningful style of singing. In songs such as "The General Specific", Bridwell sings "You say you're gonna go, then be careful, and watch how you treat every living soul". The humane thoughts worked into the lyrics play as soft and amicable as his vocals, which Bridwell says sound like Peter Cetera in his interview with Pitchfork. When Bridwell sings, “The world is such a wonderful place” in "Ode To LRC", his demeanor in singing so, wholly supports believing just that.
Besides their easy-going song style in two of their best album tracks "No One's Gonna Love You" and "The General Specific", Band of Horses does turn up their Southern rock style in a few of their upbeat songs, "Marry Song" and "Ode to LRC". Despite the many unrelated and melodically lavish tracks on Cease to Begin, the songs flow from one to the next, not repetitive, but distinguishable and in a justifiable, well placed order.
Their opening track, "Is There A Ghost", opens up the album just as intriguing as "The First Song" did in EATT. While it's not as vibrant, the two have a similar style, which Band of Horses is defined by. The mid-range guitar melodies and riffs created in EATT are again brought forth which make for an easy transition from their previous album to their current one. Nothing new or groundbreaking was done in Cease to Begin, which fits perfectly for the band at this point in their careers. While the simple guitars or jam sessions never grow old, bands occasionally try to do too much experimentation and eventually turn poppy. Band of Horses' obsession with simplicity proves effective in this manner. No acoustic solos or instrumentals are called upon, which makes for an intensely placid venture through this album.
