One of the last great albums of 2007

In following the surprising success of “Everything All the Time,” Band of Horses has broken into the scene again with even more acclaim. “Cease to Begin,” their second studio release, was released at the end of last year and within two months, it received a place on Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 albums of 2007.”

The album is completely deserving of this praise as it actually is good music and is redemption for the minimal success of their prior release from the single “The Funeral.” Between the two albums, “Cease to Begin” doesn’t stray from the original style the group set out with and doesn’t betray what expectations fans would have for something new. It’s the same fluid lyrics, mellow harmonies, and in general the same free-style vibe; I appreciate that retention and am glad to see there is even a development in the song arrangements. The last album was wrought with harmony sections for entire songs, reflective of the introduction song “Is There a Ghost,” using semi-repetitive lyrics over and over again. After getting past this façade of less than original content, the album’s subsequent songs show off the prominent voice of lead guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Bridwell, who was not necessarily overshadowed but had not reached his full potential on the first album. As the album progresses there is a consistently different sound to each song, which was also a major flaw. To put that in perspective, while listening to the first album all the way through, rarely were there clear points between songs that differentiated one between the other in quality or context. While there can be common themes between the music lyrically and somewhat musically, this can only go so far before thoughts of “unoriginality” pop up. “Cease to Begin” has shown they can break this problem and I am glad of it.

Each song on the album holds its own as a demonstration of the band’s style but each is a different aspect of them as a whole. “Marry Song” and “The General Specific” bring a sound of real country I’d never thought could fit comfortably with the band and what’s better is it truly flows well with their previous style. Overall, there isn’t a bad song but as an album, there is very little content; there are new songs and they left me content with the CD, but it left me feeling like I received an incomplete album. It’s not an uncommon thing, especially since they released a year after their first, and I can understand possibly a lack of material but it’s safe to say there’s no absolute need to release once a year, especially for a band as powerful and alternative as Band of Horses.

Reviewer's rating: 4 elephants