''Infinite Arms'' is the third album of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Band of Horses Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also incl ...

, released on May 18, 2010, on

Brown Records Benjamin Bridwell (born April 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. He is best known as the lead singer of the American rock band Band of Horses and a former member of the band Carissa's Wierd. Early life Bri ...

, Fat Possum Records and

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

. Most of the album was recorded in Asheville, North Carolina with some overdubbing done in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. The album was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in the Best Alternative Album category."53rd Annual Grammy Awards nominees list"
''

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History

Shortly after the release of '' Cease to Begin'', keyboard player Ryan Monroe was made a permanent band member. The line-up was further expanded by the addition of Tyler Ramsey (guitar) and Bill Reynolds (bass). The new six piece band toured extensively between the releases of ''Cease to Begin'' and ''Infinite Arms'', although Rob Hampton left the band prior to the recording of ''Infinite Arms''. ''Infinite Arms'' was made without assistance or funding from a record label, the band having left

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...

. Ben Bridwell explained why he eventually decided to have Brown Records, his own label, involved, "Because I did fund the record myself and (we) produced it ourselves, we just really wanted to make sure that we can have our hands in the pie."Simon Harper
Band of Horses interview
'' Clash'' - May 19, 2010 Several of the tracks were written by Ben Bridwell whilst staying in a cabin in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

near the Canada–US border. Bridwell explained why he had said that this was the "first" Band of Horses album, "It's the first time the line-up hasn't been this revolving door. With this record it's a real band that I'm part of. No one's going anywhere, everyone's contributing to the songwriting process..." The track "Blue Beard" features drums by Bridwell, the first time he has played drums on a record since he was in

Carissa's Wierd Carissa's Wierd was an American indie rock band based in Seattle that formed in 1995 and disbanded in late 2003. Their sound has been described as "chamber rock".

Critical reception

Reviews of the album have been generally favourable, it has an overall rating of 69 out of 100 from 31 reviews, on the

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

website. '' Q'' magazine gave ''Infinite Arms'' a 4/5 rating and described it as "The next Great Americana Album." They noted the influence of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

and drew parallels with "The Great American Novel" in literature. ''Q'' concluded by saying that, "For all the restlessness of the creative process...this is a strangely domestic affair."

Commercial performance

''Infinite Arms'' proved a major international success for Band of Horses, performing well in charts in Europe, Australasia and North America, reaching the top 10 in the US, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Sweden. The album sold 73,000 units in first three weeks in United States. As of September 2012, the album has sold 202,000 copies in United States.

Track listing

Personnel

*Benjamin Bridwell - vocals, guitars, drums, sounds, memotron *Creighton Barret - drums, thunderdrum, percussion *Ryan Monroe - keyboards, vocals, percussion, guitar *Bill Reynolds - bass, tambourine, guitar, percussion, sounds *Tyler Ramsey - guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards, piano, theremin ;Guest musicians *Jay Widenhouse - trumpet on "Factory" *Dylan Huber - trumpet #2 on "Factory" *Dave Wilkens - trombone on "Factory" *Clint Fore - tuba on "Factory" *Lauren Brown - strings on "Factory" ;Production *Band of Horses - production *Phil Ek - additional production *Dave Sardy - mixing

Charts

References

External links

Band of Horses official website
{{Authority control 2010 albums Band of Horses albums Albums produced by Phil Ek Fat Possum Records albums Columbia Records albums