An Horse's Rearrange Beds (2009) presented an endearing performance by Kate Cooper and Damon Cox, setting a monumental standard for the inevitable follow-up.
Walls polishes and perfects the formula that made Rearrange Beds so inspiring. Cooper's lyrical abilities have certainly progressed since Rearrange Beds, with choice lyrics like the opening of "Tiny Skeletons": "Our favorite game was to count the eyelashes/that fell on my cheeks whenever you got a little anxious". The record is full of harshly sincere, transparent lyrics and a convincing performance by Cooper and Cox.
While Walls doesn't deviate too much from Rearrange Beds' formula, this doesn't by any means reduce its merit as a record. An Horse strikes a balance between charged anthems and mellow refrains that makes Walls a satisfying experience, and shows the maturation of An Horse as a band.
