After lead single ‘Smoke’ hit #1 just one week before their debut album ‘Southernality’ hit stores, A Thousand Horses are in a prime commercial position that is likely to afford them maximum sales possible and the highest chart ranking they can muster. I have personally been surprised by how much they have taken off; I felt ‘Smoke’ was a generic mainstream country rock song that overstretched a simple metaphor, from a band that was trying too hard to look like cool outlaws. I didn’t expect too much from an album that boasted a dozen other songs from a frankly uninspiring group.
I was a little pleasantly surprised, therefore, when I came to listen to ‘Southernality’. No, it’s not a brilliant southern rock album from a credible outfit designed to shake up the country music scene, but I recognize that it could have been a lot worse. We get some of the laundry list stuff and the clichés out the way in ‘Trailer Trashed’ and to some degree the title track, and find them settling into themselves on a selection of generic pop/rock offerings regarding love and heartbreak. These are generally well-written for a mass, undiscerning audience who consume the majority of their music via radio, and range from ‘Hell On My Heart’ (which sounds so much like Nickelback I had to double check it wasn’t produced by Joey Moi), the lead single ‘Smoke’, and second single ‘(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial’, to moderately more twangy and country-orientated offerings such as ‘Heaven Is Close’ and ‘Tennessee Whiskey’.
It’s the latter two, however, which start to outline some of their true roots; on ‘Heaven Is Close’ the fiddle remains prominent throughout, bouncing off a bluesy country melody that comes into its own on ‘Tennessee Whiskey’. As per the album’s title, there’s certainly a sense that all of the songs emanated from the south, with gospel choirs laid lightly over many of the choruses and flairs of organ and gritty, jangly guitars. ‘Sunday Morning’ in particular shines in its off-beat rhythm, rising gospel chorus and soulful, spiritual undertones, while opener ‘First Time’ delves into 12 bar blues for a decidedly southern-infused rock ‘n’ roll track. ‘Back To Me’ also sets itself apart, building a wall of pretty acoustic guitar picking, pedal steel, light harmonies and piano for a much softer (albeit just as passionate) offering that gives us one of the more heartfelt lyrics on the album.
‘Travelin’ Man’ takes us one step further down the southern rock route, with heavier production and a short, sharp, anti-melodic delivery in the chorus, all the while steering carefully around referring themselves to outlaws. The track essentially places them in that narrative, “got my aviators and my cigarette lighter, my leather jacket, I’m a jet fighter,” lead singer Michael Hobby boasts with a certain swagger. They are punching slightly above their weight here; although I respect their sensitivity in not aligning themselves with legendary country outlaws (like Eric Church has controversially done), there’s still a rebellious, braggy nature to it that I don’t quite feel they can back up yet. After all, at least a few of the tracks on this album could be counted as pop.
My main issue with this album is that while it’s too cluttered, with too many musical ideas conflicting and the band struggling to find exactly who they are in the midst of it, it’s also strangely difficult to distinguish between the tracks, at least at first. That’s because, while their musicianship should be commended, there’s simply too much going on in the instrumentation and it ends up as a guitar-heavy rock fest, with elements of metal, gospel, soul, blues, country and pop all fighting to be heard. It’s almost always a challenge to uncover the subtleties within the music, and often the mixes find the vocals lost a little, thus rendering some of the lyrics difficult to pick out. All of this makes it frankly exhausting to listen to, to the point where the songs seem considerably longer than they actually are (most are 2:30-3:30 in length but feel more like 4 minutes plus). Letting your style become so overwhelming that it makes songs burn out quickly is not the way to go.
In general, A Thousand Horses appear to be a band rushed into the spotlight with only some idea of what they want to be. True, they are not bro-country, which is always something to be glad of, and they are not unabashed country pop, but often they come across like a southern rock band polished up – without finishing the job. In some respects they seem like a more commercial version of The Cadillac Three (two of the members co-wrote some of the songs), and certainly they have already had more radio success than their sonically heavier, more talented label mates. They also sound as if Joey Moi has produced them, which is a shame since it was actually Dave Cobb, who has some decent credits to his name (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton).
The primary lesson we can take away from this is that market research and perceived gaps in the market can lead to a compromised record that is not a true depiction of who a band is artistically. And when that record gets released, it’ll show.
