Band Of Horses - Acoustic At The Ryman (Album Review)
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Written by Gavin Rees
“Thanks y’all,” has never sounded as wholesome as it does when uttered by Band Of Horses’ Ben Bridwell at the start of ‘Acoustic At The Ryman’, their first live album.
Arriving four studio records into a career that’s hit some notable highs and largely steered clear of any complementary lows, this collection, recorded at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, sketches a picture of a band at ease with their back catalogue, able to deliver warm arrangements with poise and charm.
Across the 10 tracks that comprise ‘Acoustic At The Ryman’, Band Of Horses are content to treat each of their past releases equally, whether adding winsome piano to Factory and competing vocal harmonies to Older, from their mixed ‘Infinite Arms’ album, or delivering a spare, effective arrangement of The Funeral, from their debut, ‘Everything All The Time’.
At its centre, both in terms of its spot on the setlist and as an emotional anchor, is a superb rendition of No One’s Gonna Love You, the closest thing the band has to a hit single. Here, the subtleties of Bridwell’s vocals perhaps even outweigh the heft of the studio version.
Still, it’s hard to view ‘Acoustic At The Ryman’ as anything more than a bridge to Band Of Horses’ next destination. The hope remains that, following lukewarm responses to ‘Infinite Arms’ and ‘Mirage Rock’, there’s a breakout album in their locker.
This record does a fine job of collating the reasons Band Of Horses should be admired. Their next challenge is to repeat the trick in the one-shot deal of a studio album.
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