HORSE THIEF
Bella Union are thrilled to announce the debut album, Fear In Bliss, from recent signings, Oklahoma-based quintet Horse Thief. The self-styled “psychedelic folk rock band” are purveyors of a panoramic yet nuanced brand, the sound flowing from intimate to anthemic, the mood from vibrant to contemplative, with frontman Cameron Neal’s lyrics from confessional to metaphorical. The result evokes the wide-open spaces of America’s mid-west but infuses the sense of grit and wonderment with edgier, fractured emotions.
Neal grew up on his parents’ Beatles and Dylan records before The Smiths became an early personal touchstone; you can hear aspects of the Manchester icons in Horse Thief’s sound, plus a boldness that reflects Neal’s subsequent love of Pixies, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, tempered by the Americana scene that has developed around them. But despite Neal’s guiding influence, Horse Thief is definitely a band, one that took time to gel. Originally from Denton, Texas (home to Midlake and other Bella Union signings) the band chose their name after a trail band members once hiked outside the small mining town of Creede, Colorado where Neal’s family own a cabin. “It’s more about capturing something that is as free as horse than someone capable of stealing one!” he explains.
Horse Thief proved restless too by moving to Oklahoma City, to attend the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, “so we could get a college degree while trying to make it as a band, to get an education but still have the freedom to still go on the road,” says spokesman Neal. The band subsequently signed with the Flaming Lips’ management and came to the attention of Bella Union.
Bella Union released a Horse Thief EP, titled Grow Deep, Grow Wild, in spring 2012, but December brought a new line-up, with founder members Neal (vocals, guitars, keys) and Cody Fowler (bass) joined by Alberto Roubert (drums, percussion), Zach Zeller (organ, keys, guitar) and Alex Coleman (guitar, keys). “They’re incredible musicians, and they have the love for the music and time to practise to take things to the level that Cody and I want,” Neal says. “It changed the band so much, and we wrote the new record in four months.”
Though Fear In Bliss was conceived at Horse Thief’s Oklahoma HQ, a converted furniture store, the band decided to record the album in LA, “to leave our comfort zone, to get a perspective of where we, and our songs, came from.” Producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Fruit Bats, Vetiver) helped the band fuse their stage performance with studio quality. “We drove to LA by playing a few shows along the way, so by the time we arrived, we wanted to thrive off that live energy. The album is mostly the sound of us playing together.”
The 30-second crescendo that is ‘Intro’ leads into ‘I Don’t Mind’, with its classically chiming guitar, rousing drums, booming guitar chords and Neal’s brilliant scene-setting imagery: “outside the building, I can hear the screaming children, crying to their mother, about this fire in their head / it’s called the revolution” and it’s call-to-arms chorus of “let me out!” There’s a dreamier
mid-section before an escalating finale, and the album’s undulating tension doesn’t let up from that point, from the frail ‘Little Dust’ , an acoustic ‘Already Dead’ and the serene ‘Warm Regards’ to the swooning official finale ‘Come On’, while hidden bonus ‘Stop’ provides a more soaring full stop to the record. “’Stop’ is part of this time, and it speaks the truth of this album,” says Neal. “But it was written before the new guys joined, so it’s the least associated with the record.”
The over-arching theme to Fear In Bliss is “finding yourself and what you believe in, and finding the comfort in acknowledging fear. The title Grow Deep, Grow Wild came out of moving to Oklahoma, trying to learn and grow, but more recently, I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression, which comes out a lot on the new album. It’s why I use the concepts of God and the devil, of good and evil, which are heavy things that everyone thinks about, and where a lot of anxiety stems from. But if things are bad and scary, I think there’s always a way to fix stuff. The biggest thing for me is to give comfort to people, that they know someone is feeling the same way as them.”
Horse Thief is living proof fear can be blissful; that depression can have a positive outcome, driving creativity and spurring the band on to new heights, and wonderful landmarks such as a covers ‘swop’ half way through 2013 (posted on digital platform Soundcloud), where The Flaming Lips covered Grow Deep Grow Wild cut ‘I Am The Bear’ while Horse Thief tackled Lips classic ‘Try To Explain’. The older band have held off from any direct mentoring, but they have their buddies’ back, and Neal says Oklahoma City has become as much home as Denton. A bridge between the two cities will be built when – having made their UK debut at 2012’s End Of The Road festival - Horse Thief are guests on Midlake’s forthcoming UK/ European tour in February.
“Denton has been huge for us, to be around that mentality of musicians” Neal concludes, “but there’s a great scene developing in Oklahoma too, which we’ve been part of, so we’ve helped build something while building ourselves.” Fear In Bliss confirms that Horse Thief continue to grow, deep and wild, and their mission has only just begun.
