Almost three years have gone by since Band of Horses’ second album, Cease to Begin. Since then, they’ve lost two band members, transferred to the Columbia label and featured on a Twilight soundtrack.

And this year they’ve returned with Infinite Arms, a release that acknowledges the band’s move from Sub Pop Records yet retains that distinctive, melodic sound that fans have come to know and love.

The album is an intimate offering of tales of lost love and loneliness, meanwhile conjuring up imagery of the broad, surrounding landscapes of America’s South Carolina in a way that Arcade Fire did with their detailed picture of The Suburbs.

Admittedly, Infinite Arms is an altogether more restrained album, leaving the rocky forcefulness of previous tracks like The Funeral and Is There a Ghost by the wayside. But it actually doesn’t feel like anything is missing here as it seems like the band have found their true voice.

Lead singer Ben Bridwell’s yearning vocals and heartfelt lyrics dominate with those blissful harmonies that have gained the band comparisons with likes of The Beach Boys and most-specifically here, Chicago.

The result is an LP that flows with a new fluidity, drifting between acoustic tracks like Evening Kitchen (with its eerie oo-ooing) and the more upbeat spiritual musings of the fresh-sounding Compliments as well as the catchier Dilly (which sounds a little like Snow Patrol with a country twang - but try not to let that put you off).

In fact, Band of Horses remind us just how country they really are. As if that impressive facial hair and plaid weren’t enough, Older swaggers into the final third of the album clad in double denim, riding on horseback. It’s a cute little ditty but halfway through you get the idea and want to move on. There’s only so many times you can hear the lyrics ‘don’t want to understand why you never get older.’ It just makes us jealous about the biological wizard that keyboard player, Ryan Monroe,  is singing about.

Infinite Arms excels in its gloomier moments, like first track Factory - a string-based composition about the banalities of hotel-living - and Blue Beard, which is only brought down during a middle-eight that sounds like a totally different song, with Bridwell crying lyrics that verge on cheesy: ‘Take a little time, gonna roll the dice/taken for a ride, any normal life will do.’

Their third album is certainly different. It’s full of ballads and is a lot more mellow than their first two. If we're honest we weren’t quite convinced upon our first listen but Infinite Arms is most definitely a grower. 

There’s nothing that instantly hooks you quite like stand-out track The Funeral from debut Everything All The Time did, but there is a flood of gentle, warm-hearted songs, all smooshed up by those Infinite Arms, into one giant cuddle. Give it a chance and you might just love it.