Band of Horses Throws One Heck of a Party

Ben Bridwell leads the circus as vocalist for Seattle's Band of Horses. The latest single "Casual Party" bursts from stem to stern. Riveting guitar sequences, bombastic drumming, deep baked bass all have something to contribute to this eclectic soup that revolves around what constitutes a reasonably blah dinner party that Ben and his mates manage to convert into an almost palatable shindig, due in large part to their way with ready to spread humor. Look at the lyric sheet if you need evidence that Band of Horses hardly takes itself all that seriously. The laundry list of conversational fare does make one yawn openly. The often attempted television conversation starts this show off with a thud but wait...high drama begs you to listen. Having TV has turned poor Ben into a sociopath!! Like that wouldn't describe nine tenths of the breathing folk already. We search for the door but alas, it's truly a bitch to locate. After the chorus we head full force back into party topics of the damned such as the odious job, the recreational hobbies (I assume he means drug use but it's an up in the air guess), kids, the dog, retirement fantasies, essentially suburbia boiled down to its most snooze worthy elements. We're fortunate to have Ben leading the charge otherwise we'd all be wise to hightail it out of this psychological torture chamber as soon as possible. Three scoop ice cream generous harmonizing bring "Casual Party" above the pack of similarly themed ilk. Creighton Barrett lights up his drum kit like it was going out of style. You can practically lick the pixie like preciousness off of Ryan Monroe's keyboards, another fun appetizer to liven up a drab dinner party like this one. Tyler Ramsey shoots out of the gate guitar neck blazing which adds spice to the neighborhood community love fest that's been downgraded to keeping one's tongue firmly sealed shut. Bill Reynolds bass doubles as that wishbone you'd like to pluck from the turkey breast, the treat buoying what's faltering in this get-together. Chords come off agile as a gymnast, and that makes us want to try to give this party a little tender loving care. Mining diamonds from a sea of bottomless unremarkable junk jewelry...therein lies "Casual Party" at its finest. You have to sense Ben's been victimized by mercilessly unappealing meet-ups such as this so he's an expert on narrating how run of the mill they can get. You might call Band of Horses excellent party crashers, if this was rewarding enough to be labeled an actual party. My advice to you is ride the surf bubbling on the strength of vivid wordplay and block out any notion of "This is way too familiar for comfort. "Casual Party" makes the grade as an invitation to snicker worthy casual hilarity.