Album Review: Band of Horses – Everything All The Time (#MWE)
One listen to Everything All The Time, and I know that I should have listened to it sooner. Specifically, I should have listened to it in college, when it was fairly new. The debut album from Band of Horses would have aided my recent heartbreak from my high school sweetheart; its twangy, sun-soaked melancholy would have contributed positively to the soundtrack to my coming of age, as I danced in dingy bars in Lubbock, Texas, drunk off the cheapest beer on the menu.
Instead I discovered the band through their sophomore album Cease To Begin, which I still find to be the superior of the two. By then, the majority of the band had left Ben Bridwell to his own devices, and he evolved the group’s My Morning Jacket-aping tendencies into something more distinct, earnest, and effusive. By contrast, Everything All The Time finds Band of Horses beginning to develop their Southern-tinged heartland indie bona fides, with occasional moments of sheer brilliance, as on all-timer “The Funeral.”
Bridwell’s yearning yelp understandably draws comparisons to Jim James, as his band incorporates steady mid-tempo rhythms and resonant guitar plucking to great emotional effect. The project tends to drag in the second half, with the exception of “Weed Party,” a wistful rocker about getting into youthful trouble.
Band of Horses certainly found their lane with the follow-up, then almost immediately lost the plot for the next decade, as their signature sound devolved into nondescript coffeeshop rock. The early stuff, however, still has the tendency to tug at the heartstrings.
Score: 7/10
