Brown/Columbia

Band of Horses arrived on the indie rock scene in 2006 with Everything All the Time, one of the best, most influential albums of that year (and arguably of the past decade). Each subsequent record, though enjoyable in its own right (2010’s Infinite Arms earned a Grammy nod but fans often consider it to be the weakest), has delivered slightly less of this magic. Mirage Rock, BoH’s fourth album, has all of the pieces that distinguish the group: pensive introspection ( “Slow Cruel Hands of Time” ), emotionally loaded mid-tempo burns ( “How To Live” ), pastoral country-rock ( “Electric Music” ), dramatic loudsoft dynamics ( “Dumpster World” ) and vulnerable, raw vocals backed by strings ( “Heartbreak on the 101” ), but unfortunately, nothing feels quite as epic as “The Funeral.” The brilliant debut is bandleader Ben Bridwell’s cross to bear and while nothing will recreate that feeling of discovering a new great band, Band of Horses continue to evolve and impress.