"Cease to Begin," the band's second album--and the first since the departure of founding member and guitarist Mat Brooke--surfaced in late 2007. The set debuted at No. 35 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Guitarist/vocalist Ben Bridwell told a Rolling Stone interviewer last year that he'd written "about 27 songs" for a follow-up to "Cease to Begin," and was planning on entering a studio with the band last fall to record some of them.
Bridwell and Brooke formed Band of Horses in 2004 out of the ashes of their previous band, Carissa's Weird, which released three indie-label albums. Already well known in Seattle indie circles, the duo signed with Sub Pop and toured extensively with Iron & Wine and Okkervil River before cutting their debut album.
Brooke left the band in 2007 to concentrate on his other going concern, indie rockers Grand Archives, who released their self-titled Sub Pop debut last year.