Album Review: Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms

Band Of Horses, the Low Country outfit from Seattle are back for a third L.P, Infinite Arms, which sees them make the move from Sub Pop to Columbia with changes that will annoy some but do not severely affect the overall quality.

The shift to a larger, fuller sound, to reflect the new fans that the boys have picked up over the course of two albums, is shown immediately in ‘Factory’. Starting with an emphatic slap of the drums akin to ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, soaring violins allow for an intro before Ben Bridwell announces that “the elevator in the hotel lobby has a lazy door”. If you were going to compare ‘Factory’ as a ‘door’ to Infinite Arms, you certainly could not call it lazy. Beyond the melodic opening verse lies a catchy chorus backed up well by the rest of the band’s vocals.

For fans of Cease to Begin this latest offering will take a bit of getting used to. Band of Horses seem to have lost some of their subtlety in Infinite Arms. If you compare ‘Factory’ to the creeping sound of the intro of their last album, ‘Is There a Ghost’, the new sound seems more initially overpowering, as opposed to building up to it slowly as they did before. Those who enjoyed the overtly Neil Young-esque country tracks of Cease to Begin, such as ‘The General Specific’,will find comparatively good attempts in Infinite Arms. ‘Older’ has a fantastic whinnying country guitar opening and the melody, “And after all my plans, they melt into the sand, yeah you will be there on my mind through all’, finds the band enjoying themselves and cutting loose.

Infinite Arms displays Band of Horse’s ability to diversify its sound within the confines of a singular album. Other than the Americana of ‘Older’, tracks such as ‘Blue Beard’ show pleasant harmonies, as does the sentimental ‘Evening Kitchen’; a song that admittedly would not look out of place on a Fleet Foxes record. Band of Horses crank up the volume in ‘Laredo’ and ‘NW Apt’, with heavy guitars akin to the brilliant ‘Ode to LRC’ on Cease to Begin, and this is a welcome addition to the record.

Despite this, Band of Horses seem to have sacrificed some of their intimacy in their move to Columbia Records. Favourites such as ‘No One’s Gonna Love You’ lack a bedfellow here. Instead the band seem to have fallen back on either large guitars or harmonies, which, as welcome as they are, do not live up to the subtlety of delivery found in previous efforts like ‘No One’s Gonna Love You’.

Infinite Arms, though not as nuanced as Cease to Begin, sees Band of Horses execute a catchy album that with a few listens is sure to be a favourite of the year for many people.