Like many budding bands, All the Tired Horses started in Ma’s backyard shed and pilfered its moniker from a Bob Dylan song. But never ye mind. Jeremiah Wingerden and his cronies have produced a half-hour EP that’s a modern pastiche of the past two decades of music. Take “T-Shirt,” for example: a moody ode with simplistic lyrics, a dirgelike tempo, and the swirling ambience of jangling guitars—Mojave 3 meets the Cocteau Twins with a dude up front. “Television Light” backs upbeat guitar and percussion with nebulous, wavelike landscapes, while the title track is more straightforward alt-rock that will appeal to fans of Radiohead, REM, or The Sundays. Wingerden’s vocals are warm and emotive throughout, which works well with atmospheric tones. The record picks up midway but quickly slows again to molasses mode. Eventually they throw in a harmonica and—oh, lordy!—wrap it all up with a church hymn. Some listeners might find college crybaby music hellishly boring, but I’m an old fart and I find the quasi-comatose quite satisfying. A Coastline and a Forest is filled with back-to-back bliss that’s perfect if I want to hang off my bed. Which I do. So I’m keepin’ it. www.myspace.com/allthetiredhorses.
This article appears in May 2007.
