Things Are Great + SIGNED Print

Includes an 11x11 card signed by Ben!

A good bit of rock and a lotta roll have always characterized Band of Horses’ sound.

Their latest record, the curiously titled “Things Are Great,” is no exception. As the success of the lead-off single “Crutch” has shown, Bridwell’s writing still hits the spot. It’s easy to find something satisfying in the flow of the music and to resonate with the contents of the lyrics.

Lyrics are where the album draws the most attention to itself. Bridwell has often narrated elaborate but clear images (listen to “The Funeral” from 2006’s “Everything All the Time,” for example).

But on “Things Are Great,” the imagery shifts in the direction of plainness, simplicity and, on occasion, bluntness. Something in these lyrics has aged; though no doubt poetic, there are few extraneous complexities here.

After teasing a radical slowdown, the BPMs finally drop, and the chorus returns, this time languid and yawning, embodying the exhaustion in the words. They draw out the momentum of flowy chord progressions and tight percussion perhaps even more than usual.

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The Spokesman-Review
Review: Band of Horses’ new album ‘Things Are Great’ is, well, great