Infinite Arms – Band of Horses

Band of Horses sound enormous and lush on this, their third full-length. A mere three seconds into the album, and you’re ensconced in an expansive well of colour and space. You’re cool with drowning in this music. It’s folk rock, if you want to label it—and this album certainly falls into a certain rift in that genre that’s appeared over the last couple of years. Recordings like the first Fleet Foxes album, Bill Callahan’s Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, even Joanna Newsom’s newie, all draw you into their oak-panelled worlds and woo you with their inventive backwoods charm.

A couple of things distinguish Infinite Arms from those records, though: while the above all have their darknesses and minor-key passages, this album is resolutely positive, and, thankfully, occasionally wistful. Also BoH fall squarely on the rock side of folk-rock. Whether it’s the full-body swoon of ‘Factory’, the dizzying spire of harmonies that open ‘Blue Beard’ or the glorious, uncompromising stomp of first single ‘Laredo’, xx and co clearly don’t do things by halves. Even the sublime zephyr of the title track has weight and a resolute determination that’s just, well, rock.

It’s easy for a band like this to get carried away with rollicking immenseness, but there’s plenty to hold your attention through those crucial middle tracks on this album. The sudden jump in vocal register on ‘On My Way Back Home’ feels like the first new breath after a steep dive.

It’s tempting to dub them the Crazy Horse to the Fleet Foxes’ CSNY. It’s also tempting to claim they’re a lesser band than those Foxes, especially since they’re so often mentioned in the same breath… but that’d be facetious. Their music is very much its own beast; simpler, perhaps, but with just as many nooks and crannies, lofty bough perches and sunny windowseats for you to cling to and cherish.

Remember that scene in Almost Famous where Kate Hudson says if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends? This album is going to be a good pal to you.

published in The Brag