19. "The Funeral" by Band of Horses (2006)

Band of Horses expansive guitars and ringing melodies are drenched with atmosphere. Like shuffling through the leaves on a sidewalk in a small town. Or watching the moon over an empty lake. The group's pretty, autumnal indie-rock does not obscure the band's spare, lyrical heft, but fortifies and envelops it with layered reverb.

On "The Funeral," Ben Bridwell's high-pitched register slowly rises with crystalline guitar tones, humble yet foreboding. Then his voice explodes in glimmering reverb, awash in in what can only be described as Southern shoegaze. The result is an anthemic version of the often anemic or angular sound of their peers. Band of Horses open-hearted, unironic approach to indie-rock is life-affirming and welcome. And "The Funeral" is a striking and altogether potent indie-rock song.

Why listen? By combining elements of Southern rock, shoegaze, and indie-rock, Band of Horses create epic and intimate songs that are endlessly accessible and listenable. In an age of irony, the band forces listeners to take their words at face value which only enchances the music's immediacy. Indeed, if you want to call "The Funeral" the best emo song of the decade, The D Man will have no problem with that.
Something else? "The Great Salt Lake," "St. Augustine," "Is There A Ghost," "Ode to the LRC," "No One's Gonna Love You," Islands on the Coast."