Bears - Perfect Girl
Bears - The City Still
Bears - The City Still (Low in the Sky remix)
“I found the perfect girl, pretty as can be. I guess just not perfect for me.”
It took me approximately fifteen plays to truly listen to the lyrics of “Perfect Girl”. I’m not proud of this. But, but, but… On the surface level, it’s such an inoffensive, peppy indie-pop jam! If you’re not actually paying attention—which one might be prone to do whilst casually listening in their cubicle—you might fall victim to the song’s deceptively joyful vibe and carefree, Beach Boys-esque melodies.
Bears‘ Greater Lakes works, overall, because it’s a mostly depressing album that only sounds depressing half of the time. Well, less than half of the time. Though you might hit the doldrums hard on “Don’t Wait”, “I Don’t Have You on My Mind” and “I Can’t Make Things Right”, each is followed by something significantly more upbeat (including closing track “Until The Very End”, one of the album’s lone moment of genuine happiness).
The beauty of Greater Lakes is that it’s whatever you make of it. You can turn it on and soak in every single emotion, or simply bop and sway to the music. From the unapologetic hermits’ anthem “More Left Out” to the instant dance party of “From Good to Bad”, this is an album that takes you on a journey. That isn’t always the case in today’s current musical climate. Kudos to Bears for achieving this.
Photo credit: Jersey Knitter
