There was a commercial for basketball sneakers many years ago with Shaquille O’Neal where he was guided by legends of the game to never “Fake the funk on a nasty dunk.” Besides never fake-funking, the lesson is clear: respect your elders. There is something heartening about older bands like The Wrens and The New Pornographers that stick it out through the tough times to come through the other side. So I was rooting for “Everything All The Time” the first album by Band of Horses, fronted by Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke of longtime Pacific NW cult faves Carissa’s Wierd. However, while “Everything All The Time” has its moments, its familiarity and generally unremarkable songs do not live up to the buzz Sub Pop has been generating for them.
The sound of Band of Horses treads well in the Pacific NW indie idiom: Built to Spill guitars meets the pop sensibilities of the Shins, with a bit of the grandiose gravitas of The Arcade Fire. Bridwell’s vocals have a high timbre somewhere between James Mercer and Zack Rogue of Rogue Wave, or like a treble version of the easy malaise of Mark Kozelek. It’s only when Bridwell really belts out the notes that his tone gets a bit shrill and nearly helium-filled, like Geddy Lee of Rush. It’s no surprise that the record was produced and mixed by Phil Ek, who practically invented the sound of NW indie. There’s nothing especially terrible or offensive on this album. It’s just that this all seems like things we heard in the mid- to late-90s. Band of Horses even repeat themselves. The chorus of “The Great Salt Lake” takes the strumming guitar and big drum sound from earlier track “The Funeral.” “The Funeral” is a stand-out song, well chosen as a downloadable mp3. Starting with pretty trilling high guitar and a lovely vocal melody, it nearly upsets the delicacy by kicking out the alterna-rock huge chorus. However, Bridwell’s compelling vocal performance makes you suspend rational judgment and instantly buy the melodrama inherit in lyrics “On every occasion, I’m ready for the funeral” (As an aside, now that “Six Feet Under” has ended, can mortician-chic be over, please? Arcade Fire, what do you say?)
It’s not as if a familiar sound is criminal, though. With memorable songs, a band is seen as adapting or repositioning a familiar sound with great purposes. What makes “Everything All The Time” less stirring, however, is its averageness. The songs hardly ever surprise or move beyond their initial progressions. Towards its end, Band of Horses introduce material that is more folksy in an Iron & Wine way – soft slow vocals with slide guitar and banjo. Yet aside from nice album closer “St. Augustine,” they suffer in comparison to Iron & Wine, as well. Whatever his faults, Sam Beam can craft a ditty that nestles itself into your heart. There are not many songs on “Everywhere All The Time” that leave indelible hooks in your head. They seem to just exist, content to simply be pleasant and comfortably familiar. Sure, that old, worn sweater is nice sometimes. Start leaving the house wearing it all the time, though, and people are going to start saying you’re not trying hard enough anymore. And they’d be right. |