• Voto:
BANDA DI CAVALLI AL PICCOLO TROTTO.
Ripetersi ai livelli migliori non è mai stato semplice per stalloni stagionati, abituati a sgroppare da lustri negli ippodromi. Figurarsi per una compagine esordiente nelle charts, specie se in tempi di vacche magrissime (scheletriche, direi) bisogna dare seguito a un piccolo classico pop\rock\folk quale fu Everything All The Time nel 2006.
L'appartenenza al glorioso tempio di Seattle e alla sua "Motown" ( l'invincibile scuderia Sub Pop, etichetta su cui noi nostalgici e apatici 30enni spendiamo qualche lacrimuccia solo a guardarne il logo..) è riuscita a far guadagnare ai Band Of Horses quella visibilità, di pubblico e giornali, che molti gruppi indie non hanno. Aggiungiamo il loro positivo approccio alla musica e alle cosucce della vita, ed ecco qua la formula magica: un leggero indie-rock dai toni agrodolci, soffici melodie cullanti, repertorio di brani brevi, grande carica struggente, chitarre lucidate in bella mostra, efficaci linee strumentali. Il tutto accompagnato dalla squillante vocalità del leader Ben Bridwell (simile al cantato di James Mercer) e da un suono cristallino, dove coesistono tradizione americana e cultura alternative. Con Cease To Begin i Band Of Horses cercano di ribadire le promettenti impressioni suscitate dall'esordio, senza per questo entusiasmare gli animi; poiché in queste 10 canzoni non si coglie certo la stessa intensità ed ispirazione. Piuttosto, sopra la mia testa s'illumina spesso una pestifera lampadina: "auto-compiacimento". No, non troverete una The Great Salt Lake, e neanche The First Song. Seppur ravvivato dalla portentosa apertura del singolo Is There A Ghost, l'album fatica a trovare un'identità precisa e finisce quindi per limonare con cuori infranti e banalità. Complici la ruffianona No One's Gonna Love You (ovvero: suonare accordi così paraculoidi che in confronto i Coldplay fanno la figura di scienziati del CERN), Lamb On The Lam ( In The City), intermezzo wave-nottambulo vagamente Interpol, e il lento ballatone Detlef Schrempf (in alto gli accendini!). Ad alzare un po' il tiro ci pensano Ode To LRC, country-rock di marca Young\Wilco, gli Shins in volo di Islands On The Coast e l'elettrica Cigarettes, Wedding Bands, parente lontana di She Floated Away degli Husker Du. Chiude il delicato dormiveglia di Window Blues, con un caldo organo ad abbracciare note autunnali.
Conclusione: il barbuto Bridwell e soci hanno svolto un onesto compitino che gli eviterà di darsi all'ippica (come accade troppe volte a troppe giovani band già al secondo tentativo), e Cease To Begin non è esattamente la copia sbiadita del primo album, né un brutto lavoro. Ma resta il dubbio pesante che livellare il proprio stile per allargare l'audience, spostandosi su un versante più "pop" e piacione, non sia tanto un'idea geniale in un mondo di fessi.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Is There a Ghost (02:59)
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house…
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house…
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
I could sleep
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
When I lived alone
Is there a ghost in my house?
My house…
04 Detlef Schrempf (04:28)
And take a little walk when the worst is to come
When I saw you looking like I never thought
And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm
The town is gonna talk, but these people do not
See things through to the very minimal
But what's it gonna cost to be gone?
If we see you like I hoped we never would
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
So take it as a song or a lesson to learn
And sometime soon be better than you were
If you say you're gonna go, then be careful
And watch how you treat every living soul
My eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
05 The General Specific (03:07)
If your trials end are really getting you down
We had a close call I didn't even see it
then another one I hardly believed it at all.
What the writers say it means shit to me now.
Plants and animals we're on a bender
when it's 80 degrees the end of December was coming on
Only for you and me.
When the showing up ends going back to the south
where hungry necks that I know and runnin' A blender
in a lightning storm disguised as a blessing I'm sure.
Knowing up here there comes a fork in the road
pants have gotta go, we're on an island
on the fourth of July looks like the tide is going home.
In time I'd find a little way to your heart
down to the general store for nothing specific
Gonna wash my bones in the Atlantic shore
only for you and me
07 Islands on the Coast (03:34)
Here's a copy,
the rest that you know,
and put the kind words to bed.
For man don't say why,
or even know how,
it's only awful as
the hell that you know.
When islands want to coast,
islands want to coast,
they'll know how,
yeah, they'll know how.
And only hours before
the house had burned down,
he shut the other door.
But if i don't see now,
or even know why,
it's only awful
as the hell that you know.
When islands want to coast,
islands want to coast,
they'll know how,
yeah, they'll know how.
Home (x4).
He was riding in
the next thing you know,
let's take the other door.
Now if i don't think right,
or even know how,
it's only awful
as the hell that you know.
When islands want to coast,
islands want to coast,
they'll know how,
yeah, they'll know how.
Home (x4).
Carico i commenti... con calma
