Band of Horses, Infinite Arms (Columbia, 2010)

by Gabriel Barrio in Album Reviews, New Releases, Reviews, Song Reviews

Dreary eyed, and melancholy muses, getting used to bad news, and exaggerated critical acclaims, another hour of rhythms and string strums, light drums and vocal hums. The world is turning slowly, madness ensures on every corner of the globe, forest fires, recalled food products, natural disasters, wars, discord, sorrow, famine and failure, it is all around us. Some look to the sky, some run to their holy books, their holy places, some run straight into the belly of hedonism, others excess and vice. However, on this starry night I look no further than the notes and melodies divine, in each devotional note I find, peace and solitude.

While all the world aflame I listen to simple songs to regain some sense, some reason, something needed deep inside, a light at the end of the tunnel. Although the music doesn’t pierce the veil of sadness, and redeem humanity in all its shortcomings, it gives a glimpse of a world of beauty, harmony and rhythms that can make one want to smile inside and out. The artist still remains a quaint distraction away from that unwholesome, deadened society that we exist and take part in. Comforting sounds to appease the proletariat masses and keep the imminent revolt at bay for another day. Musicians protecting the status quo that they purport to rebel against, even so, this distraction, this feign of hope and promise, it is needed, this precious moment I indulge in to escape the horrors of the world. Although I might not overthrow the awful system of oppression today, this music makes another day worth baring, worth fighting for.

What artist could offer such a joyous malaise? As I set into another day of the continuous rat race of survival and effort to gain some sense of control in a globe unruly, I listen to the pop filled measures of Band of Horses.
Band of Horses formed in 2004 and was subsequently picked up by the famed label Sub Pop. What other label could bring an angsty sound back into the mainstream without attempting to revive the long dead days of grunge. Sub Pop once again struggles to retains its relevance in days of music that is overwhelmingly packaged for mass consumption without thought or artistic expression with Band of Horses moving to much larger label Columbia. Band of Horses need be noted once more for its newest release Infinite Arms. After songs that captured the effervescing power of love such as No Ones Going to Love You, and the beauty of simplicity in Is There A Ghost, they return with songs of equal importance and poetic insight such as On My Way Back Home and Infinite Arms.

On My Way Back Home captures the essence of missteps in life. Guitar strings become ambient sounds, repeating as Ben Bridwell’s voice eases in with a light reverberating empty room sound that works very nicely with the importance placed on the vocals versus the instruments. The song is a light rhythm that makes it easy to listen to anytime, my preference being when I am supposed to be working and I am in need of a voice worth listening to and music that won’t distract me too much from what I need to do. The lyrics are simple and are words that resonate with me in a way that makes me want to make my way back home, and think of all the reasons why making our way there is bittersweet at times.

Infinite Arms captures the uncertainty of emotions and how things continue to go on despite being bruised in life. Acoustic guitar serenade the aural senses, out of the stringed instruments song a voice arises, a far away voice that sounds almost like a cry for salvation, but instead plays out as a perfect companion to each chords pluck. The song slowly builds emotion and really emerges as a heart tug when the song moves into the lyric, “when my thoughts drift to you.”

Today one more cycle of 24 hours will complete, seconds disappear into minutes as they fade into hours, and the sun will sink at the end of the day. There still hasn’t been one bit of change on the crazy path that we all race down in our period of human history. There is no less pain, suffering, insanity, or distress. There will not be an overthrow of the powers that be, no sign of utopia in close sight, but the beauty, the music, the words they give us their best and keep the madness at bay.