RIYL: The Mars Volta, The Black Keys, Jack White, early Radiohead
Like amino acids congealing from primordial soup, put a lifeguard, a librarian and a beekeeper’s assistant together in a room with musical instruments and there’s no telling what you’ll get. In the case of Mostly Bears, you get a maelstrom of prog-rock graced with equal measures of stirring melody and brute ferocity. Well, almost equal.
After releasing a well-received EP in 2007, this Tucson trios’ 2008 full length “The Ed Mitchell Clinic” garnered rave reviews for its surprisingly mature blends of fierce guitar, driving rhythms, and hypnotically beautiful melodies. Sonically, “Mitchell Clinic” is a beast all its own, as lead singer and guitarist Brian Lopez employs a wide range of vocals that range from a wounded falsetto evoking Radiohead’s Thom Yorke to a primal scream ala Jack Black of the Pixies. On the six-strings, Lopez is more than capable at channeling both The Mars Volta and The Black Keys at will.
The prog-rock centerpiece of the album is “Melancholyism”, taut mind-bender with a surreal music video sure to rearrange the brains of even the most sober and stable-minded. The song is riveting from beat one as drummer Nick Wantland lays down a driving back-beat and Lopez layers highly synthesized guitar riffs, evoking for listeners the high-voltage drama likely to ensue when robots get tired of fetching us beers and finally decide to take over the world. Though the lyrics are all-but indecipherable, good listeners should be able to make out something about dreaming “recklessly” and playing around in ones mind, which seems fitting enough.
On “Leda Atomica” the band takes an entirely different approach, delivering a delicate ballad with gentle acoustic strumming and waves of organ accompanying Lopez’ love-soaked pining for his “sweet atomic thing”. An unnecessary scream-filled bridge briefly interrupts the ambience, but the beautifully hummed chorus and haunting southwestern melody make up for such antics and manage to give the song some real staying power.
Most of the 10 tracks on “Mitchell Clinic” boast similar virtues, and with such a powerful album already in the books, its hard to not get excited about what might be coming around the bend from Lopez and crew. If they keep making music like this, Mostly Bears should have much more to look forward to in their future than books, bees and drowning teens.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.myspace.com/mostlybears
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