Song of the Day: Band of Horses – Is There A Ghost

photo by David Belisle

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Morning Show host John Richards, is Is There A Ghost by Band of Horses from the forthcoming album Cease To Begin on Sub Pop.

So, how does one follow an album like Band of Horses 2006 debut Everything All The Time? That album immediately connected with the public through non-stop positive reviews from blogs and performance critics. Of course, following its release, co-founder Mat Brooke left the band, and Ben Bridwell relocated BOH to South Carolina. The result, judging from the album’s first single and opening track, is that little has changed. This track features Bridwell’s dramatic and soaring vocals atop guitars that vary between the lulling and the relentless, techniques the band has perfected over time with great results. The new album was again produced by Phil Ek (Built to Spill, The Shins).

Band of Horses heads out on yet another tour beginning mid-October with stops at the Showbox on 11/19 & 11/20. If you missed them the last time around, don’t make the same mistake again. You’ll also be able to hear them on KEXP as we broadcast from CMJ on October 19. Check out their MySpace page for complete tour information, and enjoy this video of BOH performing the yet-unreleased The General Specific at the the Great American Music Hall on July 5: