Band of Horses

This five-piece, formerly three-piece, played the Neurolux on Sunday night to a sold-out house. In fact, the tickets sold out some time ago, an odd thing if you consider that the last couple times the band played here they played to a receptive and even enthusiastic but only half to two-thirds filled room.

But there's no doubt they deserved it. The new record, Cease to Begin, while not as immediately captivating as their debut, is a grower. The songs are solid, the melodies memorable, and the performances admirable, singer Ben Bridwell's voice as clear and ringing and powerful as on plastic. Still, there's something different in them, which could be traced to the departure of one founding member and the band's subsequent move to South Carolina from Seattle. There's a different feel, as if the country-infused indie rock of the debut has been turned on its head.

Anyway, the show rocked. They trounced their way through tracks off both albums about equally, shredding Is There A Ghost? as thoroughly as Funeral, The Great Salt Lake as gorgeous and fresh as Ode to the LRC. And the crowd responded. Fists raised, singing along, swaying and grasping themselves in an ecstatic musical state that usually doesn't come around on Sunday nights.

I worry that we'll see these guys less now that they're true Southern gentlemen, but if that's the cost to get shows like these, so be it.