Band Of Horses – Things Are Great

Six years and a line-up shift on from the gorgeously forlorn Why Are You OK, Ben Bridwell’s warm-hearted roots-rockers reconnect with formative instincts on their sixth album. Sky-scraping choruses and tender feelings are the deftly navigated default modes, couched in crunchy guitars and Bridwell’s honeyed voice. Recounting the loss of that voice onstage, Warning Signs sets a theme of tough times endured to a mix of the hearty and homespun, cutting to the band’s core virtues. Crutch honours their transatlantic influences in a vibrant nod to The Cure, while Lights evolves from a foreboding opening into an urgent indie-rock show-stopper. Between the weather-worn blues reflections of Hard Times and the euphoric lift of closer Coalinga, the sense emerges of a band rediscovering their footing, a little saddle-sore but riding tall once more.