Band Of Horses - The Funeral Single Review

Band Of Horses
The Funeral
Single Review

Taken from 2006's Everything All The Time album, this single finds the South Carolina three-piece getting all epic on us. It's fitting to a certain extent that they've found their way onto the Kids imprint for this tune, as the label was responsible for iLiKETRAiNS' stunning slow-burning masterwork A ROOK HOUSE FOR BOBBY last year. While reaching for vaguely similar melancholic heights however, this single doesn't quite have the same subtle swelling grandiosity as their Leeds labelmates. Ben Bridwell croons "I'm coming up only to hold you under" over an icy plucked guitar verse but somehow it's a little too obvious what's coming next. Sure enough, right on cue - BAM! there go the full-out huge chords and massive stadium rhythms, pounding with the blunt force normally reserved for Chris Martin's anthems. That's not such a bad thing though - towards the end as Bridwell yelps "every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral" while the music picks up momentum it's not a little affecting.

B-side The End's Not Near is much slighter in texture, resembling at times Drugstore's quieter moments or New Adventures in Hi-Fi-era R.E.M. There's e-bowed guitar and a religious bent to the lyrics, and the spiritual mood is enhanced by a chapel organ entering calmly just before the chorus. It's a more subdued song then, but possibly better for it. A band to watch out for.

Owen Lloyd