Everything All the Time
Band of Horses
(Sub Pop)
The strangest thing just happened to me. See, I'd listened to Band of Horses' debut album a couple of times, and it just didn't grab me. I gave it an honest try - really, I did - but it had a way of fading into the background, sublimating itself into the soundtrack of whatever else I was doing at the time. It grated on my nerves a little bit, to be frank; how could a record be so thin, so insubstantial that it disappeared into the air around me every time I tried to grab hold? So I panned it. This afternoon I scribbled out a review on pen and paper: a lengthy, scathing diatribe about the shallow nature of indie trend-mongering, the facile attempts by webzines like Pitchfork (who, incidentally, gave Everything All the Time a startling 8.8 rating) to create their own personal hype machines, only to abandon them the moment the next big thing came along. I was insulted that an act as bland, as inoffensive, as utterly unremarkable as Band of Horses could be given such a royal treatment, and believe you me, I wasn't holding anything back.
But as I sat down to type the review, I decided to listen to the record one more time. And I honestly don't know what happened. Maybe it was because I decided to listen with headphones for the first time. Maybe it was because something just clicked inside of me. But suddenly, I got it. Everything All the Time wasn't bland, it was beautiful. It wasn't insubstantial, it was intimate. And while it might not be the most amazing or original thing I've heard all year - actually, I'll tell you right now that it isn't - it is far from unremarkable.
Thing is, though, I still don't know what's changed. All the traits of this album which I initially loathed are still there: it's still a chronically laid-back, unassuming record, a clutch of droning, reverb-drenched songs which risk running together into one lengthy trawl if you don't pay enough attention. And it's still a bit of an "indie by numbers" exercize, too; shades of shoegaze and Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket and the Arcade Fire, Sub Pop's own Chad VanGaalen and a sort of Neil Young-via-Wayne Coyne vivisection. It's the kind of record that's instantly familiar, even when you've never heard a note of it before. But god damn it, I like it anyway. I like it because of the way the guitars overlap and intertwine on opener "The First Song," like waves of reverb crashing softly onto the shore. I like it because of the dramatic flair that whips "The Funeral" into a gentle frenzy, a masterful display of dynamics which reminds one oddly of Coldplay at their least insipid. And I like it because of gorgeous acoustic tracks "Part One" and "I Go to the Barn Because I Like the," both of which showcase the rootsy heart of a group who have spent some quality time opening for Iron & Wine.
So maybe Band of Horses are getting the press they're getting because they happen to sound like whatever the indie zine elite wants us to listen to. So maybe I hit it right on the nose. So what? Trends come and go, but history has shown that good music has a way of sticking around. Hell, even if Band of Horses do end up going the way of, say, Interpol, Everything All the Time is exactly the kind of record that will show up in a used bin years from now and give some impressionable youth an out-of-body experience at the listening counter. And next to an achievement like that, let's face it, a little unsavory hype starts to look mighty meaningless.
Official Site
Buy It
on Amazon
See Also: a decidedly different "Band of Horses"
(Sub Pop)
The strangest thing just happened to me. See, I'd listened to Band of Horses' debut album a couple of times, and it just didn't grab me. I gave it an honest try - really, I did - but it had a way of fading into the background, sublimating itself into the soundtrack of whatever else I was doing at the time. It grated on my nerves a little bit, to be frank; how could a record be so thin, so insubstantial that it disappeared into the air around me every time I tried to grab hold? So I panned it. This afternoon I scribbled out a review on pen and paper: a lengthy, scathing diatribe about the shallow nature of indie trend-mongering, the facile attempts by webzines like Pitchfork (who, incidentally, gave Everything All the Time a startling 8.8 rating) to create their own personal hype machines, only to abandon them the moment the next big thing came along. I was insulted that an act as bland, as inoffensive, as utterly unremarkable as Band of Horses could be given such a royal treatment, and believe you me, I wasn't holding anything back.But as I sat down to type the review, I decided to listen to the record one more time. And I honestly don't know what happened. Maybe it was because I decided to listen with headphones for the first time. Maybe it was because something just clicked inside of me. But suddenly, I got it. Everything All the Time wasn't bland, it was beautiful. It wasn't insubstantial, it was intimate. And while it might not be the most amazing or original thing I've heard all year - actually, I'll tell you right now that it isn't - it is far from unremarkable.
Thing is, though, I still don't know what's changed. All the traits of this album which I initially loathed are still there: it's still a chronically laid-back, unassuming record, a clutch of droning, reverb-drenched songs which risk running together into one lengthy trawl if you don't pay enough attention. And it's still a bit of an "indie by numbers" exercize, too; shades of shoegaze and Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket and the Arcade Fire, Sub Pop's own Chad VanGaalen and a sort of Neil Young-via-Wayne Coyne vivisection. It's the kind of record that's instantly familiar, even when you've never heard a note of it before. But god damn it, I like it anyway. I like it because of the way the guitars overlap and intertwine on opener "The First Song," like waves of reverb crashing softly onto the shore. I like it because of the dramatic flair that whips "The Funeral" into a gentle frenzy, a masterful display of dynamics which reminds one oddly of Coldplay at their least insipid. And I like it because of gorgeous acoustic tracks "Part One" and "I Go to the Barn Because I Like the," both of which showcase the rootsy heart of a group who have spent some quality time opening for Iron & Wine.
So maybe Band of Horses are getting the press they're getting because they happen to sound like whatever the indie zine elite wants us to listen to. So maybe I hit it right on the nose. So what? Trends come and go, but history has shown that good music has a way of sticking around. Hell, even if Band of Horses do end up going the way of, say, Interpol, Everything All the Time is exactly the kind of record that will show up in a used bin years from now and give some impressionable youth an out-of-body experience at the listening counter. And next to an achievement like that, let's face it, a little unsavory hype starts to look mighty meaningless.
Official Site
Buy It
on AmazonSee Also: a decidedly different "Band of Horses"
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