Im working out of the coffee shop today. Writing some invitations to youth group, doing some reading for a meeting with my intern Jesse later, and doing some ordination reading. I love an americano on a cold overcast January day. Something else I love on days like this is the music of "Band of Horses."
A few weeks ago Amazon was running a great deal on a bunch of albums from 2010 so I bought way too much music for one sitting and am just making my way into really giving the Band of Horses album "Infinite Arms" a good thorough listening. A lot of times I like to listen to an album three or four times before I make an assessment to see what songs rise to the top because a lot of times I find the songs that initially catch my ear aren't necessarily the bands best work.
Band of Horses is a Seattle based band, which is no surprise when you give their music a listen. They have the subdued personalities and introspective emotional song writing that we have come to expect with so many of the great bands coming out of the Pacific Northwest. "Infinite Arms" is the third studio album from the band since they were formed by Ben Bridwell in 2004. This album has received critical acclaim, and is nominated for the upcoming Grammy awards under the category of "Best Alternative Music Album." I don't mean this to be critical of other bands, but I think one of the coolest things about this album is that the band wanted this to truly be their album so the project was self-funded and self-produced. Certainly lots of bands out there fund and produce their albums, but a lot of them, especially early on in their careers, wouldn't produce anything close to music being considered for a Grammy.
The song "Blue Beard" begins with some of the trademark haunting vocals that BOH is known for, and moves into a cryptic story about someone the writer used to know. I like the way the falsetto harmonies back up Ben's vocals, and the way the determined drumming seems to match the singers quest to find what or who he is looking for, even if the banana peels are true. Check it out, this video was made by the band, at least that's what YouTube says so it must be true.
great song. i love this album and i'm sure you will, too. i am pretty jealous that you're doing work in a coffeeshop as i sit in the basement of university center at CMU today. nothing like putting the sounds of winter in your ears while basking upon the view of bitter cold and snowfall.
great song. i love this album and i'm sure you will, too. i am pretty jealous that you're doing work in a coffeeshop as i sit in the basement of university center at CMU today. nothing like putting the sounds of winter in your ears while basking upon the view of bitter cold and snowfall.
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