Band of Horses - Cease to begin

The Band of Horses' first album was pretty good by most standards. The sog "Great Salt Lake" was a crystalline blue hint of wonders still to come. But their second, "Cease to Begin", has a purity and clean wonder that is very rare indeed, and achieves that rarest of achievements: a second album finer
than the first.

The voice of Ben Bridwell is a lovely, simple, almost childlike tone, yet he has a facility to find delicious simple melodies that make the most of it as an instrument.

I read an interview with Baaba Maal recently where he remarked on the art of finding a melody that sat above the hypnotic guitar patterns of his friend, and I think Ben has that same facility.

The songs are staple, sub-pop indie, mostly, but there's a, freshness, almost innocence about them that place them well away from the grungier end of the label.

I just can't decide which is the loveliest song...