Ben Kweller: Changing Horses (Ato Records, 2009)
Going country is never a bad thing. Ben Kweller’s fourth album Changing Horses takes him deep into the country soil and the early power pop days are far away in the horizon. If I need to describe the album with one word, my selection would be “pleasant”. It has a great easy-flowing feeling and beautiful country songs or country-flavoured pop songs follow one after another. A perfect day-after-the-bar record. My own favourite is the beautiful Old Hat that reminds me a bit of The Jayhawks in the chorus. I suppose one could argue that this is hardly inventive and I suppose one might even critisize that it’s just an album full of little country pastiches. But how could I say such things if I enjoy every song and every note of the album. Isn’t that what matters in the end. Therefore I don’t say such things and instead I will say “Well done Ben and keep the country thing going on”.
