Album Review: BNQT, Volume 1

Formed in 2015 by Midlake’s Eric Pulido, BNQT is a self-proclaimed indie supergroup comprised of Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Travis’ Fran Healy, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and the members of Midlake themselves.
When it comes to “supergroups”, there tends to be two kinds. There are the ones made up of fervent creatives who take a break from their main gigs to try out something new with a pet project (see Atoms For Peace/Them Crooked Vultures); then there are the ones made up of musicians at the tail end of their careers who’ve decided to collectively cut their losses. Trying to name anything significant that the bands above have done lately would inevitably place BNQT into the latter category (forgive me, pre-2011 Band of Horses).
That’s not to say anything about the album itself. Volume 1 features 10 perfectly good indie-rock tracks. However, the decision to opt for a take-it-in-turns approach for who gets to play the lead (each of the five singers gets two songs each) means that the whole album is never greater than the sum of all its parts. There’s no real sense of chemistry and cohesion between the group, making the “super” prefix slightly ambitious.
The album does shine brightest when Ben Bridwell takes the lead. ‘Unlikely Force’ reminds you of a time when Band of Horses were at their peak, while ‘Tara’ is as good a roots rook anthem as you’re likely to hear.
Before the album’s release, Pulido envisioned his band as being a “poor man’s Travelling Willburys”. He might’ve meant it to be tongue-in-cheek, but sadly for the BNQT boys, he pretty much hit the nail on the head.