The Bell Horses’ first album, This Loves Last Time, may qualify as one of the most pleasantly surprising album of the year. Before importing it into iTunes I had no knowledge of the band or the album. I was actually pleased when I saw just eight songs clocking in at a little over thirty minutes (who wants to sift through a double album in the middle of mid-terms?). Then the music started playing and what issued forth was a steady stream of ethereal pop songs that all hit their marks. I couldn’t get enough.

Hushed voices, airy synths, and lazy rhythm sections pervade the album. It reminds me of an acoustic version of The Knife, if only for the wispiness that cuts through their songs. The vocal duties are split between Jenny Owen Youngs and Xian Hawkins, and neither seems to have any desire to rush through a melody. Youngs and Hawkins strike a subtle balance between conventional pop instrumentation and buzzy, bleary, sampled sounds in their sleepy-but-catchy songs. “Still Life” opens the album with Youngs’ voice and a stellar soft-hook that lures listeners into a mood that feels like that dozy, hazy time that comes just before you fall sleep. Xian takes over vocal duties on ”Small Hours”, a glitchy yet calming track. The melody rolls beneath a wash of synth and strange electronic noises while a meticulous tribal percussion provides the rhythm. “Headmess” brings Youngs’ voice back, this time pulling off her best Grizzly Bear impression. The song is built on a tension-release cycle with the verses battling a choppy piano riff before flowing into a descending chorus. “Billowing” is a terrific instrumental, using an angelic melody of “ahhs” and a simple guitar riff. “The Comb” builds and extends the beauty of “Billowing”, being another fantastic dream of a song with few lyrics and plenty of sighing vocals. “The Storm” has Youngs dominating the track, with great results. The airiness from the rest of the album is toned down while Youngs belts out conventional pop vocals accompanied by a fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Youngs has earned the right to show what she can do with reduced noise and sparser productions on this album, and she does not disappoint.

“Still Life” is probably the strongest single song on the album, with stiff competition from “The Comb”, but there’s not a weak song to be found and the album’s cohesiveness is a marvel. “Dust of Us”, five minutes of tranquility and warm hooks, is a fitting closer. An alternating rhythm allows the music to float away peacefully, punctuating a fine piece of work. This type of airy atmospherics and acoustic infrastructure sounds like something that would have been well suited to the soundtrack of Pan’s Labyrinth. “Billowing” and “The Comb” in particular would have fit comfortably with the tone of that film: dark and cavernous, with a hint of fantasy and something whimsical. When Youngs stops her vocals in “The Comb” it’s like letting go of an object in space and watching it gently twist away until it completely fades from sight.

My journalistic sources (the band's website) revealed the musical background of Youngs, whom I had actually heard before but didn’t recognize immediately. Adding this information to what I knew of Xian, I knew that despite this being The Bell Horses’ debut album there were some veterans running this show. Pooling their established fans together, The Bell Horses may be able to make a pretty big splash once this album makes its rounds. And they’ve earned the right with this finely crafted, wonderfully accessible, endlessly rewarding album.

Track List:
1. Still Life (3:33)
2. Small Hours (3:48)
3. Headmess (3:18)
4. Billowing (3:22)
5. The Comb (5:52)
6. Photograph (3:59)
7. The Storm (2:32)
8. Dust of Us (4:55)