Band of Horses is the new band for Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell, formerly of Carissa’s Wierd. They’ve swapped roles, with Bridwell taking the center stage this time around. This is a shame, in some ways, since Brooke is probably one of my absolute favorite singer/songwriters of all-time and I’d love to have more stuff directly from him. But having anything at all to fill the post Wierd gap is great, so I’m not going to complain too much (much how I feel about fellow-Wierder Jenn Ghetto’s 2004 album “Puking and Crying” which I’ll probably talk more about eventually).
Band of Horses definitely has a little bit of the Carissa’s Wierd vibe going on, but they’re not just a clone. Instead of being a sort of indie/chamber hybrid with hushed and heartfelt vocals, Band of Horses has much more of a southern thing going on. And they definitely are willing to rock out a lot more. For example:
The Funeral
This song starts out soft and slow, with delicately plucked notes on a guitar. The first verse has the feel of My Morning Jacket, with vocals that echo and then a wordless harmony that fades when, at around the 1:20 mark, the drums enter the fray and the song explodes. From then on it’s a bruising, though not aggressively so, romp. The My Morning Jacket comparison only gets stronger as the song progresses, but frankly, I think I like Band of Horses better. It’s got more of the southern-indie-rock-meets-shoegazer thing going on without the faux-pyschedelia that sometimes gets in the way for me with MMJ stuff.
I Lost My Dingle on the Red Line
The comparisons don’t end there. Here’s another song that sounds like it could have been sung by Jim James. But even more than that, it sounds like an old Mojave 3 track. The echoed vocals are even more pronounced here – the backing vocals almost sound as if they’re coming from another room. Silly name and silly lyrics notwithstanding, this is a very pretty song. It’s a demo on their website, and I haven’t heard a more polished version yet, nor do I know if one is forthcoming. Really, I’m not sure it would improve the song to make any changes. It works so well because it just feels like two guys sitting together, lightly strumming their guitars and watching a crackling fire.