Horse Play

Sometimes it's not just what you know, it's also who you know. Or didn't you know? Band of Horses knows. Thanks to the help of prominent people who know the four Horsemen, more and more people are being introduced to the plaintive Northwestern quartet. Looking at Band of Horses, to date, is a study in serendipity.

A quartet of late '90s/early 2000s Seattle scene veterans, Band of Horses plays an engaging blend of high, lonesome indie rock informed by insurgent country. A high profile slot in April opening for Iron & Wine - Band of Horses' friends and labelmates on Seattle's Sub Pop Records - has helped the group begin to cultivate a following already, despite not having yet released an album.

"People clap, buy CDs - the Iron & Wine fans are so polite," says Horses' singer/guitarist Ben Bridwell on the band's continuing tour with Florida-based folkie Sam "Iron & Wine" Beam and Co. "Every night is a sold-out show and we're a newer band with a different dynamic than Iron & Wine, so it's the kind of thing you can only hope for."

Band of Horses is "newer," sure. But Bridwell and Co. aren't new to the indie-music circuit. Previously in Carissa's Wierd - a graceful quintet that delicately played haunted and hushed processional pop from Seattle circa 1995-2002 - Bridwell was used to recording in slow-fi. He put together demos in the old Carissa's Wierd practice space following the band's break-up. Soon, Bridwell found musicians to make Horses a trio, then convinced Carissa's Wierd singer Matt Brooke to join on guitar.

Wrapping his vocals in reverb "as more of a security blanket at the start," Bridwell leads the jangly foursome rambling forward on influences that include Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Wilco, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate, Bob Dylan's mid-'70s Rolling Thunder Review era and ELO. Comparisons to Louisville, Ky.'s My Morning Jacket can also be made. The sound resonates with nostalgia, and is played with chime and charm. Like a woozy evening ended on a deserted subway platform, Horses' music is bittersweet, disturbed only by the occasional passing gust.

Having reconnected with music and friends following Carissa's Wierd, Bridwell also reconnected with Beam, a friendship that has proven pivotal for both.

"Ben and I are from Columbia, S.C., known each other for a long time, and kept in touch, kept sending each other music," says Beam by phone from his home in Miami. "He knew people with Sub Pop, so he sort of stuck my music in their ear, they called me and I went and played a couple shows with [Carissa's Wierd] and got a deal. Then years later, [Ben] has this new band, Horses, and so when I came through in September, they asked if they could open and I was happy to oblige. The vibe was there, and we've always loved sitting around with music between us, so more touring only made sense. It's nepotism at its best."

It was at the Seattle Iron & Wine/Band of Horses show that Bridwell's associations came full circle. Megan Jasper, Sub Pop's general manager, was in the audience and picked up a Horses demo CD, played it around the office, and Sub Pop offered them a deal. With a label and a lucrative opening slot with Iron & Wine offered, Horses saw a great opportunity to raise the band's profile, and cement the group's chemistry and confidence in the process.

"Sure, everyone hangs out at Starbucks with guitars and the Internet and shit, and that's tight," laughs Bridwell sarcastically. "But Seattle right now isn't really that cracking for us. We're almost an Atlanta band, it seems. We've played Atlanta four times in the last couple months and Seattle maybe once in the last four months. Touring is definitely the ticket right now.

"Just getting to play those songs every night before we record them has helped us," continues Bridwell. "But it's also scary because you don't want to play things out too long because we don't want to burn out the songs. Because once the album comes out, we're sure as hell going to continue to tour to support it. But that time we expect we'll have been doing this long enough we'll have made some new friends, too, so it will be great to trade ideas and shows and chemistry with them. Look how it worked out so far."

tony.ware@creativeloafing.com