Sonically, Band Of Horses' new album, Things Are Great is a return to their earlier work and the kind of raw ethos that lies at the heart of the band.
This time around, Band founder Ben Bridwell took a bigger role in production than he ever has previously, producing or co-producing every song on the album. He brought in old collaborators including Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, Dave Fridmann, and Dave Sardy, but it's not just old friends who were able to help Bridwell achieve the sound he envisioned. For the first time he worked with engineer Wolfgang Wolfie Zimmerman. The two had an instant connection which can be felt throughout the record.
Lead singer Ben Bridwell’s lyrics envision a cinematic reflecting on a night out with a friend that mutates into what feels like a Law & Order episode, but the case is actually a mystery of where did the love go. Bridwell reflects on the song "Lights," "I was with my family at an indoor water park hotel. On my last day there, I was walking down the hall and this guy was like, 'Ben?' It happened to be this dude that was producing the film that I was writing the score for. We met up in the family-friendly hotel bar which gets closed down by us at 10:00, at which point we then ended up in the parking lot. We get a little loose - nothing too crazy, but we ended up dodging security guards. Our story then goes on to when I’m back home and someone had broken into my house. With the cops that ended up being around, there were more people turning the lights on us, one way or another. At the parking lot of the hotel, it was the security guards turning them on to check on us out there and at home, it was the lights going on and off with these cops. I’m drawing metaphors here and there from these two stories. Also, things were going poorly for me at that time and that kind of peppers the entire track.”
Band Of Horses will join the Black Keys for their Dropout Boogie tour, a 32-date North American run beginning July 9 in Las Vegas.