Infinite Arms

Infinite Arms
Studio album by Band of Horses
Released	May 18, 2010 (2010-05-18)
Genre	Indie rock
Length	45:17
Label	Brown Records/ Fat Possum/Columbia
Producer	Band of Horses, Phil Ek
Band of Horses chronology
Cease to Begin (2007) Infinite Arms (2010) Mirage Rock (2012)

Infinite Arms is the third album of indie rock band Band of Horses, released on May 18, 2010, on Brown Records, Fat Possum Records and Columbia.^[1] Most of the album was recorded in Asheville, North Carolina with some overdubbing done in Los Angeles.^[2] The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Alternative Album category.^[3]

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. 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."^[2] Several of the tracks were written by Ben Bridwell whilst staying in a cabin in Minnesota near the Canadian border.^[4]

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..."^[5]

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, Bridwell explained, "I didn’t even mean to be playing drums on that song. We all took a stab at it. The song wasn’t developing right. I was the last one to go for it and it ended up being the one."^[6] "Evening Kitchen" was written by guitarist Tyler Ramsey and features him sharing lead vocals with Bridwell, while "Older" is written and sung by keyboard player Ryan Monroe. The first single taken from the album is "Compliments" and its official music video was presented on the band's website in April 2010.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Factory"	Ben Bridwell	4:35
2.	"Compliments"	Bridwell	3:28
3.	"Laredo"	Bridwell	3:12
4.	"Blue Beard"	Band of Horses	3:22
5.	"On My Way Back Home"	Bridwell	3:31
6.	"Infinite Arms"	Bridwell	4:08
7.	"Dilly"	Bridwell, Tyler Ramsey	3:31
8.	"Evening Kitchen"	Ramsey	3:57
9.	"Older"	Ryan Monroe	3:28
10.	"For Annabelle"	Bridwell, Ramsey	3:06
11.	"NW Apt."	Bridwell	3:01
12.	"Neighbor"	Bridwell	5:58

Reception and chart performance

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	69/100 (31 Critics)[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
Clash	[9]
Entertainment Weekly	(A-)[10]
One Thirty BPM	(74%)[11]
Pitchfork Media	(5.3/10)[12]
Q	[13]
Rolling Stone Magazine	[14]
Slant Magazine	[15]
Spin	[16]
Uncut	[17]
Sputnikmusic	[18]
DBF Music	[19]

Chart	Peak
US Billboard 200	7	[20]
UK Albums Chart	21	[21]
Australian Albums Chart	19	[22]
Belgian Flanders Albums Chart	29	[22]
Belgian Wallonia Albums Chart	83	[22]
Canadian Albums Chart	7	[23]
Danish Albums Chart	4	[22]
Dutch Albums Chart	64	[22]
Finnish Albums Chart	26	[22]
French Albums Chart	91	[22]
German Albums Chart	88	[22]
Greek Albums Chart	4	[22]
New Zealand Albums Chart	16	[22]
Norwegian Albums Chart	2	[22]
Swedish Albums Chart	5	[22]
Swiss Albums Chart	29	[22]
Irish Albums Chart	21	[24]

Infinite Arms has proved a major international success for Band of Horses. It has performed well in charts in Europe, Australasia and North America, reaching the top 10 in the US, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Sweden.

Reviews of the album have been generally favourable, it has an overall rating of 69 out of 100 from 31 reviews, on the Metacritic website.^[7] 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 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".^[25]

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Band of Horses.

• Band of Horses official website

v t e Band of Horses Ben Bridwell Tyler Ramsey Ryan Monroe Bill Reynolds Creighton Barrett Mat Brooke Sera Cahoone Chris Early Rob Hampton Tim Meinig Joe Arnone Ludwig Böss Matt Gentling Blake Mills Robin Peringer Albums Everything All the Time Cease to Begin Infinite Arms Mirage Rock EPs Tour EP Singles "The Funeral" "The Great Salt Lake" "Is There a Ghost" "No One's Gonna Love You" "Compliments" "Laredo" "Factory" "Georgia" "Dilly" Related bands Carissa's Wierd Grand Archives