Patch in the synthesizers, crank up the reverb and flip the switch on the fog machine: Bear In Heaven are back with a new record, Time is Over One Day Old. Call me crazy, but this Bear in Heaven album could have been released in 1984. And what’s crazier is this record’s pretty damn good, too.
Parts of Time Is Over One Day Old pound and parts of it are like the slow burners similar to songs off of Bear in Heaven’s 2009 record Beast Rest Forth Mouth. By 2012’s I Love You Man, It’s Cool, the band picked up the tempos considerably and John Philpot’s voice was just about overwhelmed by the band’s raw energy (I still think “The Reflection of You” is one of their best songs).
On Time Is Over One Day Old, everything’s mixed into a coherent whole: “If I Were To Lie,” builds up slowly, with the lead vocals and keyboards surging in at the chorus. “On Time Between,” the ominous bass rumbles, surging keyboards and guitars sucked me right in: it’s a great electro jam, a fun mix of 80s New Wave and current Indie Rock. When they hit, they really connect: they got me right in a spot I haven’t thought about since, well, the last Bear in Heaven record.
Elsewhere, things get hazy and smooth. “They Dream” is slow, blurry and reminds me a little of Washed Out’s early stuff in it’s Nyquil-induced dreaminess. Meanwhile “The Sun and the Moon and the Stars” is also dreamy, although maybe a little more driving. It even ends in a little spoken section. And “Dissolve the Walls” is all haze and ambient landscapes. If Time Is Over One Day Old’s second track “Time Between” grabbed my attention, here I found Bear in Heaven purposely letting it go.
Between the warm keyboards, the tinkling synthesized touches, and fuzzy guitars and bass, everything is splashed with a retro vibe. The keyboard-heavy sound of songs like “Way Off “and “Demon” are reflective of 80s mainstays like OMD, Depeche Mode and Gary Numan. You know, the kind of keyboard-heavy pop they used to play on retro weekends, back before retro meant the first Strokes record or mid-90s U2.
And the deeper I got into this record, the more I found it emotive of the 80s. After a while I wondered if Bear in Heaven were consciously trying to emulate that decade’s music, but why? What is this music made to feel nostalgic towards? As the keyboards bounce around and the drums pound, it sounds like dance music that’s ignored everything dance-oriented from the last 20 years. You could slip “Demon” on at a dance club and nobody would bat an eye – so long as it’s on Retro Night.
Like Time Is Over One Day Old, title suggests, time is rather fluid on this record. It sounds out of time, unstuck like Billy Pilgrim. But with Bear in Heaven’s latest record, their music could just as easily be 30 years old as 30 days old. Maybe you’re going to think they’re self-consciously trying to sound like 80s music, but maybe they’re blazing a distinct trail in electronic pop. After all, Daft Punk just tried to go back to 1977 and wound up with one of the most successful songs ever.
On their latest Bear In Heaven expertly follow a narrow line and while I’m not sure I always see their trail myself, dammit, I keep following down after them.
Rating: 3.5/5