Shortest Day of the Year
Bears
Self-Released

With equal parts bittersweet mawkishness and moonlit yearning, the new Bears EP is a full of palpable sentiment, drama and even a touch of gloom. Ok, a lot of gloom. But thankfully, it’s all contagious if not occasionally overwhelming. Like Felt and Belle & Sebastian before them, Craig Ramsey and Charlie McArthur revel in uncovering the desolate co-dependant soul; on Shortest Day of the Year, they bolster their efforts by offering gifts to that specter called the Sophomore Slump – a double dose of Ambien, a warm cup of tea and a goose down pillow. Soundtrack for Winter Solstice? Perhaps, as this follow-up to Bears was written during a cold Cleveland winter.

This much is true: tuneful, lo-fi indie-pop never had it so good.

Year begins with a swift “Those Years,” and its swift, guitar strum which fortifies Ramsey’s honeyed vocal range. The undertow of this powerful tune yields to “Reason to Cry,” with a line that a cat like Morrissey probably wishes he wrote: Feeling rather lonesome is never good for you/ But it makes me feel important. McArthur sings this one with sardonic introspection with a backdrop that owes as much to 70s easy rock as it does to the Moz. Something about the vocal tradeoff in this band keeps them ever compelling, even when the mood itself threatens to fall in upon itself.

Depressed and mellow is the call to order and mood for a day, as evidenced by the remaining 5 tracks. All detail various states of emotional heartbreak, relationship distress. “You Can Tell,” “All I” and the maudlin “My Pain” help round out the theme with varying maudlin degrees. In the former, guitarist Patrick Tripto charms, even as the overwrought lyrics threaten to crack the listener up: You must wonder what's going through my mind besides the alphabet/counting to six and prehistoric times.

That bit of curiosity aside, McArthur and Ramsey are earning every bit of critical praise they receive outside Northeast Ohio, even as most folks here haven’t a clue about them. Both EPs released by this duo portend bigger things. The jangly sound, plinky piano and generous sonic flavors found on Year definitely offer something for every listener. And yet for this reviewer, some much needed optimism and a few more flourishing endings on this 16-minute release would have made it that much better. Perhaps their upcoming U.S. tour will help bring those concepts to a head… just in time for a full-length disc.

Visit Bears online at http://www.bearspop.com and catch them as a six-piece when they perform live in town. They put on a striking performance.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com
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