Band of Horses

Established on an axis that connects Seattle — where cornerstone member and frontman Ben Bridwell formed his outfit in 2004 — and South Carolina, where he relocated before 2007's second album Cease to Begin, Band of Horses has created a sound that exists firmly within the American rural rock tradition but often reaches places altogether more spectral and unfathomable. The first single released from debut album Everything All the Time (2006) was "The Funeral," the perfect introduction to Bridwell's keening echo of a voice, and a great example of the band's ability to switch from spiderweb delicacy to thunderous heft within the confines of one expertly constructed song. "Is There a Ghost" continued in that vein, piling notes of melancholy into a gathering cloud of neo-shoegaze guitar, while the rocked-up single "Compliments" from 2010's stunning Infinite Arms signalled the band's willingness to expand its horizons.