Just a bit outside!

If you'd asked me about Band of Horses before April 1st of this year I would have said "their music is a perfect blend of melodic, hypnotic juvenility. It's addictive. I love it!" With their latest release, Infinite Arms, that may no longer be the case... I'm not impressed. Many of the songs are overproduced.

Despite the fact that the album's producer is long-time Built to Spill collaborator Phil Ek, it lacks the maturity of recent BTS albums. When Built to Spill 'grew up', they made some of the most compelling music of the past decade. I want to like this album. I want to think that they are maturing and this is a new, stronger sound. But, I just don't think it is. It misses the target too often.

This is NOT the work of an underground sensation hitting the big leagues in the vein of Death Cab for Cutie and their record Plans. The album almost seems forced. Very little has stayed the same. Gone are the echoey vocals. Gone are the haunting near-slowcore ballads. Gone are the shimmering layered guitars. Gone is the creativity. This record better become the high-selling VH-1 instant classic that it sounds as though it was intended to be! Otherwise, one of the most promising new bands of the decade may have gone and left us!