I’ll try to keep this short, since Bear in Heaven’s recently released debut Beast Rest Forth Mouth will probably be all over the Intarwebz and college radio soon, and people with more sophisticated prose than I will be discussing this jam hive. But I’m a verbose bro, so we’ll see what happens. This is what you need to know, in easy-to-read bullet format:
- Bear in Heaven is not to be confused with Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, Gorilla Vs. Bear, Bear Bryant, The Black Bear Jamboree in Pigeon Forge, TN (which is the tits, don’t be misled), Bearforce1 (look it up if U DON’T KNO), Smokey the Bear, et fuckin’ cetera. They’re totally different than the aforementioned. They just have “bear” in the name. “Bear” is the new “wolf.” Or “crystal.” Or “sufjan.” Crystal Bears are Wolf Like Sufjan. I challenge The Hood Internet to mash that up.
- Bear In Heaven isn’t exactly new. They’ve been doing the damn thing since 2003. Before that, group founder Jon Philpot (not to be confused with Pol Pot – see first bullet) was half of Presocratics, who were sick and insane. Peep Works and Days.
- Yes, they formed in Brooklyn, but I’m really not trying to hold that against them.
- “Dust Cloud” and “Deafening Love” are near perfect songs. “Wholehearted Mess” is kinda shitty, though.
- That last fact notwithstanding, the album as a whole is really good. Remember when M83 released the Dead Cities set and it totally ruled? Then M83 released the follow-up, Before the Dawn Heals Us, and it sucked major dick? Bear in Heaven is reminiscent of the former, but only reminiscent. They don’t actually sound like M83. They sound closer to some sort of Public Image Ltd./Siouxie Souix/Bark Psychosis meets Cocteau Twins/Curve/Boo Radleys creature.
- All the songs are constructed from ideas straight out of the Mogwai School of Thought: constantly evolving and tension-building jams that collapse and fade. Their approach is much closer to this than the nuanced, motorik drive of krautrock. However, that genre definition has been thrown around in a few recent reviews for Beast Rest Forth Mouth. Don’t listen to these people because they are idiots. Bear in Heaven is an excellent nod to post rock and dream pop, not krautrock.
- For reasons that remain intangible, there’s something about Philpot’s vocals that is viscerally similar to REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin, especially during the crescendo of “Bear in Peace” and the chorus of “Lovesick Teenagers.” I think that rules. REO Speedwagon plus shoegaze is a recipe for win.
- I can’t tell what’s synthetic and what’s live instrumentation, much like Manitoba’s Up in Flames. That’s a great style, too.
- This is why we don’t release our Best Of/Worst Of list until the actual end of the year. You never know when stuff like this will pop up.
For fans of: Cocteau Twins, Fever Ray, Slowdive, Bark Psychosis
Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
MP3 :::
Bear in Heaven – Dust Cloud
Bear in Heaven – Deafening Love
