Band of Horses - Why Are You OK?

Band of Horses
Why Are You Ok?
2016
Spotify

The album begins like you would expect a Band of Horses album to start. Slow, a little delicate, but a nice haunting vocal to remember what they once were, the second coming of Indie Rock. That song however is split into two parts, the first "Dull Times" then "The Moon" and "The Moon" is where the band let's it loose, throws whatever they have done against the wall and moved on. Band of Horses know that you used to love them, maybe even thought they were the best band in the world while you sat on a bed in your dorm room. Listening to "the Funeral" was genre altering and life changing for a lot of people and it was their first introduction into this kind of music. However that album was released ten years ago, and time really has passed Band of Horses. They have put out a couple good records in that time, but most of it felt like trying to catch previous glories. This album feels a lot different though, like Band of Horses have settled into their sound and have allowed it to just be rather than pushing it in a direction that really isn't where the band is at. Their sound is much more rich and alive on this record, less of the morose allowing for some real energy to creep in. "In a Drawer" actually brings in a touch more production and let's the band kind of explore a bit in a more synthy space, it is quite interesting to hear.

Throughout the record each song is really fun and loose, giving it that very organic feel that Band of Horses have always had a mastery of. Why Are You Ok? just pleases you right away, but that same sense does not hold throughout the album. You get that much of this music is meant to be fun, but it not exciting enough to really let loose but also not poignant enough to be considered amazing. It exists in this middle path, holding the line of good music that for one reason or another does not get bigger than it actually is. When you learn that much of the music was written from Ben Birdwell's experience as a father of now four the record makes a lot more sense. It has this feel that is almost childlike in it's reverence for the special little things in the world. When Birdwell sings it is almost as if He is discovering the words for the first time, and the wonder that would come from that. However in the end there probably is not something both exciting and new on this record that is going to endear it to new fans, but for the Band of Horses faithful this will be a nice record to hold on to for awhile.

7.2 out of 10