Band of Horses w/ Bryan Cates

Band of Horses’ new Infinite Arms is their first major label record since they left indie springboard Sub Pop, but it certainly doesn’t sound like it. No efforts were made to glitz up the indie-Americana band’s sound; in fact, if anything Infinite Arms is actually a more modest, intimate record than their breakthrough 2006 debut, Everything All the Time. That album yielded the soundtrack-friendly, lighters-up single “The Funeral,” but the new disc is unabashedly small-scale by comparison, channeling the simple charms of the ’70s folk-rock records that singer Ben Bridwell’s parents probably owned, garnished with a few direct rockers that should keep the group’s concerts lively.