Band Of Horses don’t just have influences, they have an identity carefully distilled from equal parts of inspiration, perspiration, and their own personal flavors. Blustery, thoughtful pop tracks played by an aggressive group of players give the album a remarkable feeling of restraint during more wistful moments. The very fact that they hold themselves in check so easily, while creating such artful moments, makes their judicious use of energy and passion when released all the more impressive. All that musical alchemy has resulted in idiosyncratic style that, as Why Are You OK shows, they’re hard at work exploring to all of our benefit.
Listen to the Why Are You OK and read along with our review below:
“Dull Times-The Moon” drifts for the first few minutes, with droning guitars and a dense atmosphere of disassociation and angst. This pervasive feeling of detachment lulls the listener into a trance before a crunchy guitar riff cuts through the haze and sets the song on fire. The build and release model that serves Band Of Horses so well in the past continues to provide a framework for the band to express themselves. Elements of faint psychedelia color the songs, with “Solemn Oath” and “Hag” having their quieter moments taken to a slightly off-kilter plane, while their rockier sections benefit from being slightly out of sync. Tracks like the first single, “Casual Party” show singer Ben Bridwell at his quirky best, irreverent tone and tenor in full force and giving a zippy heart to the fairly light tune.
Check out the video for “Casual Party” below:
Keyboardist Ryan Monroe and guitarist Tyler Ramsey do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to building these songs of blended past and future sounds. Their dreamlike interplay can create a similarity of tones between their instruments that is impressive and trance inducing. This is all before they ride a shattering wave of backbeat from drummer Creighton Barrett and bassist Bill Reynolds, who continually catch zoned out listeners by surprise with their pace changes. Most impressive, the disparate moments of crashing thunder and whispered hope don’t conflict, simply adding to the now expected depth each song encompasses.
With a variety of solid tunes like “Whatever, Wherever” and “Barrel House” on the latter half of the selections, Band Of Horses have delivered a deep album full of a brand of low-key psychedelic song-craft that has been missing from main stream attention for far too long. Judging by the reception, the band has gotten in the media and from the ticket and music buying populace, it’s an element that has been sorely missed. Why Are You OK is an interesting peek into the sound of a band on a journey down an off kilter path that they have fully committed themselves to following with a legion of fans happy to tag along for the ride.