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**Band Of Horses - Things Are Great**
★★★☆☆

After a five-year absence that felt like an eternity in rock years, Ben Bridwell and his merry band of Pacific Northwest dreamers have returned with *Things Are Great*, an album that arrives carrying both the weight of expectation and the curious burden of its own title's optimism. Following 2016's *Why Are You OK*, a record that found the band grappling with existential uncertainty, this sixth studio effort presents itself as something of an antidote – though whether things are actually great remains deliciously ambiguous throughout these eleven tracks.

The intervening years haven't been idle ones for Bridwell. The frontman relocated from South Carolina back to his native Seattle, a geographical shift that seems to have rekindled something essential in the band's DNA. There's a renewed sense of purpose here, a return to the expansive, reverb-soaked soundscapes that made *Everything All The Time* and *Cease to Begin* such compelling statements. Yet this isn't mere nostalgia tourism – *Things Are Great* finds Band Of Horses attempting to reconcile their established sonic palette with a more mature, contemplative worldview.

Musically, the album occupies familiar territory for the band, dwelling in that sweet spot between indie rock grandeur and Americana introspection. Bridwell's falsetto remains the north star around which everything orbits, that distinctive voice capable of transforming even the most mundane observation into something approaching the sublime. The production, handled by Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, strikes an effective balance between the band's natural inclination toward wall-of-sound maximalism and a more nuanced approach that allows individual elements to breathe.

The album's strongest moments come when Band Of Horses lean into their gift for crafting anthemic yet intimate epics. "Crutch" opens proceedings with a statement of intent, its driving rhythm and layered guitars building to the kind of cathartic release that reminds you why this band matters. The track serves as both mission statement and invitation, Bridwell's vocals soaring over a foundation that's simultaneously sturdy and ethereal. "In Need of Repair" follows suit, offering perhaps the album's most immediate hook wrapped in layers of shimmering guitar work that recalls the band's early triumphs.

"Warning Signs" represents another high-water mark, its urgent tempo and cryptic lyrics creating the kind of tension that made songs like "The Funeral" so compelling. Here, Bridwell's tendency toward oblique storytelling serves the material well, his fragmented narratives leaving plenty of room for listeners to project their own meanings onto the proceedings. The interplay between Ryan Monroe's keyboards and the dual guitar attack creates a sonic landscape that's both familiar and fresh.

The title track itself proves to be one of the album's more intriguing entries, its deliberately paced build and philosophical bent suggesting a band comfortable with taking their time to make their point. There's a weariness here that feels earned rather than affected, Bridwell's observations on the state of things carrying the weight of experience without tipping into cynicism.

Where *Things Are Great* occasionally stumbles is in its tendency toward sameness – a criticism that's dogged Band Of Horses throughout their career. Tracks like "Lights" and "Lead Singer" feel like variations on established themes rather than genuine explorations of new territory. The band's formula, while effective, can sometimes feel constraining, particularly when stretched across a full album's worth of material.

Yet even these lesser moments possess a certain charm, testament to the band's ability to make even their most routine efforts feel somehow essential. There's comfort in Band Of Horses' consistency, their commitment to a particular vision of what rock music can accomplish in an age of infinite possibility.

*Things Are Great* ultimately succeeds as both a return to form and a step forward, proof that Band Of Horses remain capable of creating music that matters. While it may not reach the heights of their earliest work, it confirms their status as one of the more reliable practitioners of their particular brand of heartland indie rock. In an era of constant upheaval and uncertainty, perhaps the simple act of making music that sounds like home is revolutionary enough. Things may not actually be great, but for forty-five minutes, Band Of Horses make a convincing case that they could be.