Bearhug

Sydney’s Bearhug have been producing some seriously loveable music for some time now. Their discography already contains two EP’s (the last was 2010’s Anything), and they’ve toured alongside the likes of Built to Spill and Broken Social Scene. Their tour with the latter was significant, given the obvious influence in their music, and there are touches of other great bands that shine through as you listen. They’ve settled into their own style though, and the result is some gorgeous lo-fi music.

The band spent most of 2011 holed up developing and rearranging previously written music. From this came the recently released album Bill, Dance, Shiner – nine-tracks of delicate-simplicity, full of unforced and poignant songs. It opens with the upbeat “Over the Hill,” a classic indie-rock track, before the album settles into a more subdued flow. Plenty of West Coast lo-fi follows, with the mellow “Shiner” and slow, lonesome “Cherry Red” the standouts. Single “Angeline” was written during a stage of Springsteen obsession: “It’s about motels and cars and crashes and is romantic in the sense of everything going to hell with the best intentions.” The little things make this song, the woodblock chorus, twinkling guitar riffs and breathy vocals.

There aren’t too many current Australian bands like this floating around. If you like lo-fi, they’ll be a perfect new addition to your favourite bands list. - The Indie Shuffle

The first time I heard this Sydney, Australia band, my immediate reaction was “maybe Yuck changed their name?” but I’ve owned their record Bill, Dance, Shiner for a few weeks now and it’s become one of my favorite debuts of the year. It’s refreshing to hear earnest, heartfelt indie rock done so well, and this track is the perfect storm of the band’s best qualities. - yvynl