Album Review: Bearhug - 'So Gone'

16 September 2014 | 5:55 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Hazy indie rock with diverse potential.

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Sydney's Bearhug open their new album with an instrumental track titled Borderlines, which can throw you a little off track. See this slow creeper hints that the band may be heading down the path of a hazy Battles, or 65daysofstatic, music that you will need to give time to evolve. By the end of the song however we see more of a turn to hazy indie rock not that far removed from Love of Diagrams or something of the like.

The following track, Aimee, however introduces some more melodic and structural elements, by the 50's style rock drumming of Animal, you realise that the fuzz distortion and reverberated vocals should not fool you, this is an indie-pop band.

Normally, I would look to scold this record for its lack of tonal diversity, the same guitar sound being used all the way through, and make no mistake, it becomes a little grating by the end of the record, but it also works far better than it should. The reason for this is the other elements that the band put the focus on, the bass line of Habit Wave for example which is a solid, clear cut driving melody that lets everything else around it do whatever it likes.

Catacombs is a upbeat song that is slightly under produced, there could be some more separation in the sounds to help with the dynamics but it is a nice change of pace from what is otherwise quite a sullen record. The simple rock of The Glow is given body by the bass once again, big and fuzz laden while the vocals slice through nicely.

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The record closes with the gentle ballad Until We Say, another welcome change of pace which shows of another side to the band, one that they perform well. Interestingly enough the album bookends, an instrumental and a ballad, are possibly two of the most interesting tracks and hopefully some paths the band explore more in the future.

 

 

Bearhug have shown touches of diversity on ‘So Gone’ which hint there may be much more to them than just another hazy indie-rock/pop band, time will tell.

1. Borderlines

2. Aimee

3. Animal

4. Habit Wave

5. Chlorine

6. Acid Town

7. Catacombs

8. In Rapture

9. The Glow

10. The Sky

11. Until We Say