Thankfully not affected by the equine flu, BAND OF HORSES have instead put out their second album, Cease To Begin. Front man BEN BRIDWELL tells MICHAEL PINCOTT all about it.

Seattle six-piece Band Of Horses enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to last year’s Everything All The Time, leading to a sweltering but fun show at the Zoo last December. Bridwell remembers.

“Awesome, I loved Brisbane!”

From other musicians a comment like this may sound suspicious: no matter where I said I was from, they would say they loved it/remembered it/the koalas were awesome. But Ben Bridwell sounds happy, enthusiastic and genuine, currently camped out in Los Angeles for promotion of Cease To Begin.

For those yet to saddle up, Band Of Horses offer a flavour of indie rock that finds a harmonic balance between delicate alt-country musings and powerful waves of guitar, along the lines of bands like My Morning Jacket.

“I write the songs on guitar and the melody will jump out, and once that is within my grip it’s easy to see whether the song should be loud or quiet, fast or slow or whatever. I just form it to whatever the melody is begging for. The song ends up however it presents itself really.”

Record number two can be a deathtrap for any band, harbinger of the phrase ‘Oh, it’s not as good as their first one.’ Reassuringly, Bridwell is unfazed.

“Now that we have a second record out, it’s cool, we feel like we’ve come into our own and it’s not as scary as it used to be. The reaction so far is exactly what I want, where it’s not all the bells and whistles with blogs talking about it and stuff. It’s a bit of a dark horse, so to speak.”

Another point of contest with a follow-up record is the adage ‘Don’t mess with the formula,’ but as far as Band Of Horses is concerned, there is no such thing as a formula.

“Whatever element of that attitude I had in my mind, I just tried to push it right out and focus on what comes naturally in songwriting. The song kind of makes itself known to me, sometimes I don’t really get to choose what those songs are. We tried to take a laid back approach and have fun with it instead of trying to please people.”

Amidst a hectic schedule of touring and recording, Band Of Horses lost its co-founder Mat Brookes to another project and the band also relocated from Seattle back to their homes in South Carolina, seeking a return to family and familiarity.

“A lot of the songs had been written before the move but a couple were written once we came home, A General Specific and Marry Song were inspired by being home and being around family again. The more melancholy songs like Detlef Schrempf were all kind of written in the same time frame where I was a bit down and out in Seattle and I’d already convinced myself it was time to leave.”

Cease To Begin comes across as mellow and unpretentious; a more personal record than Everything All The Time, but Bridwell insists that it purely is what it is.

“Whatever I’m doing at the time is what influences me to write a song, so it’s really just a personal notebook of what the hell is going on in my stupid life or whatever.”

CEASE TO BEGIN is out now through SUB POP/STOMP

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