Another weekend begins to draw to
a close. Sheila is out painting with her Mom and our friend Elaine, so I’ve
decided today is a Logan day.
I just watched some pre-season
football, and later I’m going to watch some tennis. If I’ve got time at the end
of all that, I may do some painting myself – figurines mind you.
But before all that – music!
Disc 649 is….Mirage Rock
Artist: Band of
Horses
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? Here we have standard
fare for the Band of Horses; a photo that depicts both the beauty and strange
otherness of nature. I like this one – it reminds me of my west coast roots.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me buying the latest
album when it came out. I’ve been a fan since their 2007 sophomore album,
“Cease to Begin”.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Band of Horses albums, which is
currently their entire studio discography. While “Cease to Begin” is first in
my books, picking second place is a toss-up between “Mirage Rock” and 2010’s
“Infinite Arms.” I gave the edge to “Infinite Arms when I reviewed it at Disc
470 LINK, but with “Mirage Rock” now in my head I feel I’ve got to switch and
make it my new #2. Who does #2 work for, you ask? I’m not sure.
And
since this is the last Band of Horses review in my collection, here’s the full
recap:
- Cease
to Begin: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 637)
- Mirage
Rock: 3 stars (reviewed right
here)
- Infinite
Arms: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 470)
- Everything
All the Time: 2 stars
(reviewed at Disc 561)
As you
can see, it is a pretty close call between the top three. “Everything All the
Time” – not so much.
Rating: 3 stars
“Mirage Rock” has Band of Horses
showing some good range, moving from up tempo rock and roll down through more
somber songs with folk constructions. The overall effect gives the record good
dynamics and helps showcase individual songs.
There is a theme about the demons
of becoming an established artist, and the fear of losing yourself in your own
success. This is a pretty common concern for indie bands who pride themselves
on being underground and anti-establishment. Punk had the same problem in the
eighties and then grunge in the nineties. Frankly, I don’t see success as a
problem – good music is good music, regardless of how many people are listening
to it.
Fortunately, while “Mirage Rock” engages
the topic, it avoids wallowing. The opening track “Knock Knock” is a bit of a hot mess, but they recover nicely on “How to Live” which is a song that
reminds you to not fret too much over life, whether you’re experiencing success
or failure.
“A
Little Biblical” feels like they are channeling the fifties, with its simple
doo-wop riffs, and I found myself thinking of Buddy Holly. In contrast, “Shut-in Tourist” has a gently rolling rhythm
and a gently rising and falling melody that had me thinking Simon and
Garfunkel. Indie music often hearkens back to very early forms, and it is best
when it is aware of this, rather than trying to over-innovate. On “Mirage Rock”
Band of Horses seems to get it.
“Dumpster World” is overly preachy and suffers from multiple
personality disorder in its efforts to get all “rock and roll” at the end. It
is supposed to be a protest song, but it had me thinking of one of those
protests where only five people show up and mill about shouting about so many different
grievances that when they go home an hour later you’re not sure what they were
grumpy about in the first place.
Much better is “Everything’s Gonna Be Undone” where the
band internalizes their frustration and failure. My favourite lines:
“So many things I could’ve written down in the passing of a
restless night
Some of those are worth keeping, and there are things that
you should never write.
Everything’s gonna be undone. Everything’s gonna be undone.”
The doubts that hit you in the
dead of night might relate to society but first they relate to you. Bringing
something into the intensely personal makes it universal – more bands need to
figure this out.
Overall the songs on “Mirage Rock”
are a slight upgrade over their previous effort “Infinite Arms” and the vocal
delivery of lead singer Benjamin Bridwell is a big part of that. Bridwell can
sometimes slip into a high vibrato style that sucks the emotion out of his
voice, but here he holds it together and feels the music in his bones. Music is
really that simple –if you’re feeling it while you’re singing it, we’ll feel it
while we listen.
The album’s final song is a fine
example of this. “Heartbreak on the 101”
has some of the hokiest lyrics on the record. The kind of stuff you write to
the girl who broke your heart in Grade 9. Stuff like:
“You leave me more damaged everyday
You took my entire world and threw it all away.”
Yet set to music it works. Partly
because of the mournful, sparse arrangement (complete with cello – guaranteed to
add emotional resonance to any song!). It is also because Bridwell loses
himself in the song so well that you get wrapped up in the emotion of it, and
forgive the words.
One quick word about the album’s
art design before I go. Previous Band of Horses albums felt the need to include
some bad Polaroids in place of anything useful. This time the band gets it
right, and just includes a short booklet with the lyrics to each song printed
out in a font that is easy to read. Musicians, take heed: this is what we want.
This is what gets us to actually buy your CD in an increasingly digital world.
Don’t over think it.
Best tracks: How to Live, Slow
Cruel Hands of Time, Shut-in Tourist, Everything’s Gonna Be Undone, Heartbreak
on the 101
No comments:
Post a Comment