BAND OF HORSES IN STINSON BEACH, CALIFORNIA: BILL REYNOLDS, ENGINEER BOBBY CHEEKS,
CREIGHTON BARRETT, TYLER RAMSEY, PRODUCER JASON LYTLE, RYAN MONROE, AND BEN BRIDWELL
“I must have been nineteen or twenty when I
With Lytle on board as producer, Bridwell
thing,” Bridwell says. “I guess we match up well
first heard ‘Ghost of 1672’ and I was smitten
and the band—drummer Creighton Barrett,
like that: we both get excited for those weird little
from the get,” Bridwell says. “From then, I was
bassist Bill Reynolds, guitarist Tyler Ramsey,
asides in songs.
a fan for life.”
and
keyboardist
Ryan
Monroe—began
experimenting. The result is Why Are You OK,
“He makes our shit seem a lot more sophisticated
Bridwell eventually met Lytle in 2008 after
their first album for Rick Rubin’s American
than we are,” he adds, laughing.
the songwriter attended a Band of Horses gig
Recordings via Interscope. It’s also the most
in Montana, where Lytle had moved after the
varied Band of Horses release to date. There are
Recorded over several sessions, the record came
initial dissolution of Grandaddy. They kept
familiar vibes, like the charging “Solemn Oath”
slow and steady, and there was room for detours:
in touch, collaborating off and on. “We did a
and the widescreen whopper “Hag,” which
the band cut a live record, Acoustic at the Ryman;
Townes Van Zandt cover, [‘Don’t You Take It
feels cut from the same cloth as Everything All
Bridwell toured solo; and he teamed up with
Too Bad,’] because I was in an Italian hotel room
the Time’s “The Great Salt Lake.” But there are
his old buddy Sam Beam of Iron and Wine for a
and I couldn’t get a damn football game so I
also strange, augmented touches on even the
collection of covers.
said, ‘I’m just going to cover this,’” Bridwell says.
most straightforward of jams—a buzzing synth
He recorded his half and sent it to Lytle, who
or echoing vocal breaking up the staid pattern
“I wanted to have the benefit of digestion,”
finished it up.
that made Infinite Arms and Mirage Rock feel
Bridwell says. “I wanted to be able to take breaks in
less engaging than what the band is capable of.
between the sessions and have time to know I was
“We definitely share some common ground as
comfortable with what we’re going to put out there.
far as our mode of operation,” Bridwell says.
“There are a lot of textural things and peculiarities
The last one was a bit of a shotgun wedding—I
That led to him finally asking Lytle, “Will you
in the arrangements that were absolutely [from
wanted that benefit of time to make sure it
please help me with this damn record?”
Lytle’s] psyche; his stamp’s all over the damn
represented where we were in our lives.”
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