I’ll take $10 on Band of Horses to Show.

As it turns out the band I was hearing good things about was Iron & Wine, not Band of Horses. But I stuck with the BOH review assuming it was akin to accidentally betting on the wrong horse at the track. When that happens you never, ever take the ticket back to the counter. You roll with the destiny.

Funny thing happened, my ticket was a winner. I like Band of Horses. I don’t love them. I’m not running around telling people to buy them or adding icons to my facebook page. But BOH has a nice little sound about them.

When I explained to a buddy here at work that I was accidentally reviewing BOH he assured me I would like them. Turns out he had an Amazon box on his desk with the same Cease to Begin CD. He described BOH’s sound as Southern, more specifically “Southern dudes with beards” ⎯which is never wrong.

This was all starting to sound promising. For starters my music was going back into the barrel, A lot of my favorite music is a little gamey, has a little woods in it, you need to check for bones before you consumer—Kings of Leon had that in spades and sadly seem to have gone away from it a bit recently.

The first track on Cease to Begin “Is There a Ghost.” reminds me a bit of “MLK” from U2. Even though it clocks in at nearly 3 minutes it’s not as much a song as it is a sleepy time vibe. But to their credit, it’s a nice album opener with a little rock guitar thump and an introduction to lead vocalist Ben Bridwell’s pretty voice.

One of the things I found a bit distracting about BOH was going from “Southern guys with beards” to the lovely vocal of Bridwell. I mean this guy doesn’t sound like a cowboy he sounds like the “you sure got a purdy mouth” guy the cowboys would want to share a cell with.

Track two “Ode to LRC” had me worried. The album was starting to sound like everything and nothing. This track reminds me of bands like Athlete that get the critics all excited and when you listed to them it’s just a good solid C+. Personally I’d rather listen to the best or the worst, the middle is what really hurts your ears and wastes your time.

Recovery was one song away with “No One’s Gonna Love You” where the boys got to me. “No One’s Gonna Love You” is a song about the phantom pains of love feeling like “a limb torn off.” You can hear the hurt in his voice as Bridwell goes out of his way to say “no one is ever going to love you like I do” to someone who has clearly moved on. “No One’s Gonna Love You” has a haunting effect as Bridwell pens one more love letter to the “ghost of what once was.” This one has all the moodiness it needs to toss it on top of the last 5 minutes of a Grey’s Anatomy episode.

I’m always going to be a sucker for the wind chime twinkle of a guitar because I grew up worshipping the Edge and U2. Band of Horses have some guitar chops featuring a guitar instrumental “Lamb on the Lam (In the City).” Bridwell’s vocal grew on me as well as at times he has a little Perry Farrell and he’s a real singer-which I appreciate.

Overall Band of Horses make lovely like the bell choir visiting your church around Christmas. What BOH lack in Adam’s apple grit, they make up for in gorgeous melody. The music tends to be a little bit too shoe gazer sleepy for my liking as it sort of wants to fade into a starry sky. But I think the band is capable of more. They have the guitar chops, but I’d like to see a little less twinkle twinkle and a little more asteroid coming from him.

Where BOH really won me over was by putting the belt buckle on and showing their range on “The General Specific” and “Marry Song.” “The General Specific” is a saloon stomp and a hot little song. It’s odd in sort of White Stripes way, at times sounding like a different band. The guitar is gone replaced with piano and a strong bass buzz. The eyes are no longer on the floor, and the feet are tapping. Bridwell’s voice changes, but it doesn’t sound forced. It’s almost as if the boys from South Carolina wanted to show us they could do it just to check the box. “Marry Song” is whiney whiskey country at its best. The sort of southern fried country that makes you want to drink until the sun hurts your eyes the next morning. It’s not for everyone, but if you like a good Western movie you’ll likely enjoy this 3:23 seat next to the organ. The keyboard work is key to both of these departure songs. Is there anything better than the sound of rock guys singing country?!

In short Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin ranks ahead of many other critical darlings (Interpol, Radiohead) I’ve reviewed in this space. I’d keep my eye on them. If they can stop counting sheep and get some of the music out of the evening and into the morning or afternoon—I think they could stick around for a while. I think they have too much personality not to do something interesting. Any band who can write a gorgeous ballad and name it “Detlef Schrempf” after the former 7’ awkward pasty German white basketball star has to be capable of making their mark.