Band Of Horses - 'Cease To Begin' (Sub Pop) Released 15/10/07

Seattle’s Band Of Horses return with the release of the second album, ‘Cease To Begin’, albeit one member lighter than at the time of the previous outing, 2006’s ‘Everything All The Time.’ The culmination is a fresh blend of folk, rock and country that demonstrates strength to vulnerability, complexity to simplicity.

This result is quite astonishing as the abject beauty of Ben Bridwell’s vocal range cascades through the hauntingly peaceful (album opener ‘Is There A Ghost’) over the punchy, yet, melodic ‘Marry Song’ to the fast-paced expedition ‘Ode To LRC’ more reminiscent of the previous LP. BOH saunter through light and dark, hope and regret, past and future, with the attention to detail of an Impressionist painter and perhaps more endearingly, without the swagger of self-assurance. The beauty of this record runs deep and poignantly, the over-riding feeling of ‘Cease To Begin’ is celebration.

You know when you throw a penny in a well for good luck and you follow its descent until you can no longer see and as it makes the faintest of splashes seemingly ages after it was thrown, you cast your wish along with it? Well somebody somewhere has made a wish for this record and oh has it been granted. In the modern world, of fast living, fickle fashions and instant gratification, ‘Cease To Begin’ is a welcome ode to a mentality long lost. BOH don’t scratch their records on the cubicle door, they mould them from a trolley-full of emotion.

I implore you all to buy/download/copy/steal this record and play it at top volume 24/7. If you’re skint, just ****ing sing it when you’re walking down the street, because I tell you this. If ‘Cease To Begin’ became the soundtrack to modern life we wouldn’t need a police force because everybody would be that high on life the drugs trade would cease to exist in minutes.