An Horse – Rearrange Beds Review
An Horse are a two-piece band from Australia and recently performed at Canadian Music Week/Fest. While I’m still not able to see concerts, based on a few listens of Rearrange Beds, it’s a show I might’ve wanted to see. The duo is comprised of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox with Cooper taking vocal duties. The band plays a level of fun indie pop that I always seem to enjoy. I was really won over with the track Camp Out when checking out their myspace. A line like “you want to camp out and I want to fuck around in the dark” is all about delivery. Cooper’s voice is full of force and emotion which her Australian accent brings out but musically it isn’t forced.
If it’s simplicity, An Horse achieve what they’re set out to do. They aren’t going to inspire with the most creative music or lines but not everything has to be full on creative. The band is just solid and while they could be great at what they do, lyrically, musically and putting out an album I can’t be entirely negative. They have quite an energy about them perhaps the Tings Tings but with more a deeper meaning rather then danceable. I think the most problematic part of the album, is not the quality of the music but the tracklisting.
I think tracklisting is not something one worries about when checking out individual songs but you shouldn’t have all your best stuff stacked on one side of the album. The other half of the album usually gets ignored. My two favourites off Rearrange Beds are the aforementioned Camp Out which is track 1 and Horizons which is track 4. I find myself listening to the first exclusively rather then the whole album. Even if the other half isn’t remotely bad, it doesn’t contain quite the gem that Camp Out or Horizons is.
It’s a decent album. I’ve got nothing bad to say or anything overly spectacular to suggest but you might like a few tracks.
3.6 out of 5
Around an average album. Generally this is the score I give to a pop band that I like but I know is not amazing. Not sure how much I will listen to the record more but look for Camp Out to end up on my year end songs list.
Camp Out by An Horse
Horizons by An Horse
Here’s some bonus material: Kaki King covering Camp Out:
Tags: album
I had the chance to interview An Horse around CMW (read it here: http://www.snobsmusic.net/2009/03/cmw-q-horse.html).
I also caught their CMW gig, which was pretty good. They’re back at the Horseshoe on Apr. 21st.
They really are nice people too.