Friday, May 10, 2013

Band of Horses: "The Funeral"

Confession: I watch "American Idol"... when it's on... when I'm on the elliptical at the gym and my other options are Fox News and a blowout Twins-Red Sox game.

But from what I've seen, this has been a great season. Incredible vocals, honest commentary from a talented performer (Urban) and more manufactured girl-on-girl drama than I can handle. But I like it for the same reason I plan to love the sixth installment of the "Fast and Furious" franchise: These guys have been around long enough fine-tuning their product that by now they're the absolute best at it.

F&F WILL have the greatest car-action sequences of the summer. Guarantee it. Their stunts have been getting bigger, badder, and Vin Dieselier each go-around. Yes, there's a fair bit of CGI, but the things they do with hydraulics, sheet metal and explosives are mind-boggling. We've come a long way since slammed Honda Civics sneaking between the axles of a big rig.

And AI? They've toyed with endless combinations of judges and had years of mediocre talent. How many winners have really done anything with their careers besides early winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood? And don't say Clay Aiken doing a cameo on that one episode of "Scrubs".

This year they have talent. Too much of it. They know it; the judges have commented since the top ten that most of the group could've won previous years. And now they have judges that recognize and genuinely encourage the talent. Sorry, Mariah, I'm not talking about you and your aimless, self-promoting diatribes. I'm talking about the pithy and often truth bomb-riddled comments from Nicki and Keith.

After top-three finalist Kree Harrison performed Rascal Flatts' "Here Comes Goodbye" on Wednesday night's show, Keith gave her a beautiful response. He thanked her for the performance.



It was such a charged series of moments. Just before the song, everyone had watched a video of Kree returning to her home in Texas and opening up about losing both her parents by the age of 12. Obviously that particular performance for her was bittersweet. And she laid it bare in the song. That's what truly talented musicians do, and Keith connected with the action in a visceral way. That was some good TV.

Music can connect us. Down to the basest part of our being. Sometimes we connect with music we never expected to. So (finally!) enter Band of Horses, a set of Charleston, SC-based alt-folk-rockers lead by appropriately for the Pacific Northwest-bearded and tattooed Ben Bridwell (hails from Seattle). Some might find Ben's voice shaky or thin at times, though his multi-layered compositions (including organ-synth!) are good for plenty of sonic swells to headbang/aggressively shoegaze to.

BOH has been around, in one form or another, since 2004, and by now has four full-length studio albums to its name, including the Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms (2010). But 2005's Everything All The Time included the breakout single "The Funeral", a slow-burning anthem that alternates between delicate electric picking and crooning, and Coldplay-esque blasts of blended sound.

After getting plenty of mixed-media attention in commercials and TV shows, "The Funeral" became a pretty well-known piece of BOH repertoire. Which generally makes me not want to like it. But dammit that is one lovely track. It's catchy and melodic, and bittersweetly profound to boot. (Sample lyric: "At every occasion, I'll be ready for the funeral.")

It just bridges that gap between brains through the airspace. It connects. It embeds. It runs through. It rocks. It ends. Enjoy the full set and wait for it, or skip ahead to 34:30 to catch it immediately. These guys play Lolla on Friday. Enjoy, and take comfort in the fact Ms Carey isn't coming back to AI*.



*Love you, MC, truly, but maybe focus a little more time on being a mom at this point.



  

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