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Minus The Bear
- They Make Beer Commercials Like This
(Sound Chamber)
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| It is not often that a band are upstaged by their song titles. On their previous record, the keen, pretty rock of Highly Refined Pirates, tracks like “Monkey! Knife!!! Fight!!!” or “Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo” sounded exactly nothing like you would expect. But they did a fine job of being melodic, charming guitar pop songs with a satisfying amount of swirling guitar lines and a subtly concrete rhythm section. |
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But this latest EP sees Minus The Bear change direction a little, and inadvertently tip the balance. The singer has dropped his register and affected a bored vocal performance, while the loose rock-ish production has been replaced with a much more ‘dance’-flavoured texture. Every instrument feels very close, and the guitars are often so treated as to sound barely recognisable. Meanwhile the drums are utilising programmed sounds, and the overall arrangement sounds strictly regimented.
The mix of traditional indie-rock songwriting with computer production is very hit and miss. The vaguely electro pulse of “Fine + 2 Pts” fails to support the lethargic chorus, while the tasteful drum n’ bass flavour to “Let’s Play Clowns” provides a nice drive, and an effective contrast for when the chorus kicks in (the best part of this EP, and the only point at which the band sound like they let go a little). “Dog Park” gets by with its Idlewild-y vocal melodies, though again suffers from the close-microphoned claustrophobia that pervades. After that things get extremely dull.
These are not the best songs the band have written, and they suffer badly from this brave but ineffective change of direction. They are far too slow to have any danceable merit, too produced to have any live energy, and just too dull and sterilised to have any emotional impact. A genuine shame.
But the band can still write a song title. For me it’s a toss-up between “I’m Not Really Down With Rob’s Alien” and “Hey! Is That A Ninja Up There?” It is just a shame the songs are so boring. |
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| Tom Pegg - 3/10 |
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