[Our fearless team, Nicci Boots and Ian McNeil spent three days listening to an obscene amount of fantastic music above the stunning Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington. Check out all our coverage here, over 30 sets from a who's who list of indie music.]
Band of Horses are unique in that they look and act so much more hardcore than they sound. When it is conveyed through their music, though, it’s done in a slow-paced way, which makes this band stand out from so many of the other groups trying to do what they do. They harbor an exclusive sort of rock ‘n’ roll that’s thick and heavy in all the right places, and it feels almost like a Wild West outlaw kind of thing. Their bassist did show up wearing a cowboy hat, and the rest of the group exhibited a certain type of Western attitude (likely picked up in their base of the Carolinas). It made for a compelling set, one that saw lead singer and guitarist Ben Bridwell jump the stage like Kid Cudi did, only to have him return winded and in need of a break.
I really, really enjoyed this set, because it was one of the few purely rock ones of the festival. Band of Horses create terrific music, and all that I implore of them is to use more of the piano that glistens too little in their songs.