Band of Horses: Cease to Begin (SubPop) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

 |   |  <1 min read

Band of Horses: Is There a Ghost
Band of Horses: Cease to Begin (SubPop) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Increasingly I am liking contemporary rock albums that annoy me because I can't quickly figure them out -- and this is one of them.

Not having heard their "critically acclaimed" debut Everything All The Time I can't say how much this Seattle-based band have changed since they lost their co-founder.

But what I hear on this album is often irritating (like that twerp from Supertramp fronting the brilliant Explosions in the Sky, see tag), engaging (lovely lyrics which are like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy at his most direct and simple), and songs that are instantly memorable, if not always for the right reasons.

So out of that mish-mash of encounters with this album over the past three months I have come to the obvious conclusion: I wouldn't just keep playing it if I didn't like it.

The opener soars into the clouds but songs like Detlef Schrempf (the name of some basketball player I believe) have a languor that is closer to pop-conscious alt.country and early REM than anything else.

There is real heart in many of these songs -- loss of love and innocence, finding love and comfort --- and that gets them over that Supertramp hurdle. Oh, and they do good stupid pop that wouldn't have disgraced a Monkees albums either.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (RocAFella)

Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (RocAFella)

Because I don't listen to much of the over-produced, schmaltzy, ululating music that passes for r'n'b these days (in my old-fashioned definition I still link r'n'b to the soul of Otis, Sam Cooke... > Read more

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon/Southbound)

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon/Southbound)

But first we draw your attention to previous releases on Rune Grammofon, an interesting label out of Norway which ran from mainstream but innovative jazz to odd and interesting electronic sounds.... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Rob: Make It Fast, Make It Slow (Soundway)

Rob: Make It Fast, Make It Slow (Soundway)

In a reproduction of what must have been the original cheap cover, this minimal and curiously religious/sexual album by Rob from Ghana has all the look -- and resonance -- of a rare reggae album... > Read more

THE BEATLES. LIVE AT THE STAR-CLUB, HAMBURG, GERMANY 1962, CONSIDERED (1977): Twist and shout, shimmy and shake

THE BEATLES. LIVE AT THE STAR-CLUB, HAMBURG, GERMANY 1962, CONSIDERED (1977): Twist and shout, shimmy and shake

The recording is of ridiculously low quality – just a reel-to-reel tape set up on table in a club with a single microphone pointed at the stage – and there has always been some debate... > Read more