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Cease to Begin
by Sub Pop
| List Price: |
$15.98 |
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$13.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$1.99 (12%) |
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Audio CD
Publisher: Sub Pop
Released in March of 2006, Band of Horses debut Everything All the Time made good on the
promise hinted at in their early shows and demos. The band went from early shows opening for
friends Iron & Wine, to playing on The Late Show with David Letterman by July, and being nominated
as one of ten finalists (along with Joanna Newsom, Beirut, Tom Waits, and, the eventual winner,
Cat Power) for the Shortlist Music Prize for that same year. And the record was well-received
critically, with celebratory press in Spin, Entertainment Weekly, NY Times, Harp, Billboard, Pitchfork,
Magnet, NME, Uncut, and a slew of others. Not a bad place to start.
For a lot of reasons, Cease to Begin is the perfect title for this new record. Not only do the
songs themselves weave this theme through the record, but stopping and starting anew is also
a reflection of the past year and a half for Band of Horses. Though they worked with producer
Phil Ek again, as they did on Everything All the Time, much has changed between the fairly
recent then and now. There have been band members who have come and gone, including Mat
Brooke, who left the band to pursue other interests and his own band. For core members Ben
Bridwell, Rob Hampton and Creighton Barrett, there has been a move from Seattle, WA to Mt.
Pleasant, SC, a relocation that had been planned for some time so that they could all be closer
to their families. And, close friends and family have come and gone some far too early. Necessarily
shot through with these experiences, the songs on Cease to Begin are strikingly beautiful, if less
elliptical and more straightforward, with more sophisticated arrangements than the last record.
Band of Horses now rest in the hands of South Carolina tenant Ben Bridwell following the departure of his right-hand man Mat Brooke, who bolted to form Grand Archives following the 2006 inauguration Everything All the Time, and the impassioned Bridwell validates out of the blocks, leading off the follow-up album with "Is There a Ghost," an exquisite chunk of pure-pop bliss. With a voice that lands somewhere between the euphoria of Brian Wilson and the anguish of the late Chris Bell (Big Star), Bridwell (and core mates Rob Hampton and Creighton Barrett) appears a modern archetype behind a playlist that teeters among tender ("No One's Gonna Love Me," "Window Blues"), twang ("Marry Song," "Detlef Schrempf"), and turbulent ("Cigarettes, Wedding Bands," the aforementioned "Is There a Ghost"). Using the same producer and regal m.o. as on the debut, Cease punctuates its magnitude among Sub Pop's top-drawer power elite (The Shins and Iron & Wine), asserting this Band of Horses' fast-rising run for the roses. --Scott Holter
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Fantastic album from band with great potential |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A short and sweet album that runs the gamut from heart warming fuzzies to material that is slightly more rocking. It is very diverse though, as ambient passages can be found right next to knee stomping camp fire sing-a- longs and the poppiest hooks this side of Compton...if My morning Jacket decided to rock out in Compton.
And yes, this is the band that had that great song in that car commercial with the cute girl staring at the buildings through the sunroof, though That song is not on this album.
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| Awesome CD (if you skip the 1st song) |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Okay, the 1st song on this CD is one of the worst songs ever. One line repeated over and over---it makes me want to bash my head against a wall. I loved their last CD, but had sworn off this one b/c I had just heard the 1st song---terrible, one of the worst!
Fortunately, I recently gave the rest of the CD a listen, decided to purchase it, and love it! The rest of the songs are so good...especially "No One's Gonna Love You" and "Marry Song." Beautiful songs, beautiful harmonies! I wish they hadn't done the 1st song b/c it almost ruined the CD for me---just play the CD and skip track 1.
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| Lacks |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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Band of Horses is a band that you can easily fall in love with. Theyre all skinny bearded boys who sing in falsetto and play beautiful post rock country songs. However, this album, lacks the generosity that the previous S/T album gave. I would strongly urge you, reader, to listen to that one above this record.
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| Great band that I never knew about! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I am a fan of indie / folk music such as Hayden, Richard Buckner, Mark Kozelek (of Red House Painters / Sun Kil Moon) and Kathleen Edwards, just for a sample of my music tastes... This band is growing on me more and more with every listen of the music that I have found so far.
I fully expect to attend a concert of theirs in the future. It's best described in my own words as a sound of "The Shins" mixed in with "Coldplay" with a dash of "Racounters"...Very good!
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| wonderful sounds |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Simply gorgeous music and vocals. Listened to this while driving through the Ohio countryside and lounging at the campfire. I love this. Just buy it now... you need it.
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Is There a Ghost
Ode to LRC
No One's Gonna Love You
Detlef Schrempf
The General Specific
Lamb on the Lam (In the City)
Islands on the Coast
Marry Song
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
Window Blues
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