MUSIC: Band of Horses

Joining the army of Band of Horses supporters was a pretty easy decision. Last Tuesday, after listening to three tracks, I walked directly down to the local record store and bought "Everything All The Time". Much has been written over the last couple of weeks and the accolades keep piling onto their debut Sub Pop release, and I have to admit that it's all well-deserved. Try a couple of their album tracks out, they're all over the place (Neiles Life has a good selection).

So, on top of getting introduced to this album, it so happened that they were playing a show with Earlimart on Friday at The Independent in San Francisco. And Of course I go. Grabbing dinner across the street at the wonderful bar/Ethiopian restaurant before the show, we actually sat next to the band. Turns out that one of their guitarists was back in Seattle and the other was out sick (plus the lead singer's voice was failing him), so they went on as a trio rather than a 5-piece that evening. For those of you that have listened to their album, you know the sprawling feeling it conveys and I was interested (and a bit worried) in seeing how it would translate minus two members. Without overstating it, I was amazed; it's unbelievable that they were able to pull off the songs (with little practice in that format) at all, and even more impressive that they did it with some much raw grit and emotion. I was blown away at how the lead singer just laid himself out there. Anyhow, the crowd responded accordingly and by the end of the all-too-short set, I'm sure they had made a good many more fans.

Here's a couple demo versions of their songs off their official website.

::: Band of Horses - Wicked Gil (Demo)
::: Band of Horses - I Lost My Dingle On The Red Line (Demo)
::: Band of Horses - Funeral (Demo)
::: Band of Horses - Bass Song (Demo)

Go on out an buy the album, I doubt you'll be disappointed.