Bear Success
Smithtown, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | INDIE
Music
Press
Downport Records [Release date 01.07.15]
New York instrumental outfit Bear Success describe themselves as new post-rock band outfit. Their debut album ‘Brevira’ comes with a Colin Fangicetto’s trippy art work and suitably places the emphasis on ambient moods, shifting rhythmic textures and ever changing sounsdcapes, full of subtle dynamics.
The Post-rock label references sit well with their amorphous style, as they build intense walls of sound routed in shimmering groves and ambient pastures, at the expense of traditional tension busting solos.
Guitarist Alex Roth’s ethereal sounds could at times be mistaken for keyboards, but effectively fill the album with contrasting moods. It’s not so much shoe gazing music as brooding, restless ambient an grungy rock with fleeting, nightmarish sounds that the band find imaginative ways to circumnavigate.
The 9 track album creates a tableau of hypnotic chiming guitar lines over sparse, but insistent percussion, as the trio explore camouflaged melodies that gradually reveal themselves as the instrumental pieces evolve.
Guitarist Alex Roth loves nothing more than filling the studio with jangling notes. On ‘I Know Mexico’ the band adds an extra growled layer of distorted tones to give the piece more purchase and envelop the listener with a mix of subtly shaped distortion, punctuated by an grungy thrash. The mini musical suite is linked by Roth’s chiming notes before a gentle nudge sends the slow build to another dense wall of noise and a closing drone.
Things get very intense on ‘Alex’s Party’ with an ambient metal intro and thrashed out chords over a tightly drawn percussive pattern which reaches for the epic, while the intro to ‘Kyles’s Party’ could almost be early Jefferson Airplane.
‘Divides’ moves from a cacophonous thrash, a surmising shred over Kyle Gallagher’s feral drumming to a tension breaking drop-down. The song ebbs and flows over Jeff Morris’s rumbling bass before coming to shore in a soothing, undulating arc of guitar swells.
Bear Success revel in dynamics, always looks for an intrinsic flow of which the creative possibilities are everything. Each song is a progression of sorts, and feels like part of a greater whole. Yet they rarely go where you expect them to, as a succession of guitar lines, tempo changes, tone colours and aural avalanches all rise to the fore and then drop away again.
‘Brevira’ draws you in and then moves on again to something else that is often at odds with what has gone before, but there’s always a sense of resolution to override any repetition or musical dead-ends. And with over half of the tracks clocking in at over 7 minutes long, they give themselves plenty of room to explore different stylistic dimensions
‘I’ve Heard It Both Ways’ owes much to Brian Eno’s original soundloops, as the band applies lashing of phasing to create portentous ambient textures that never quite deliver what they promise. Instead they segue straight into the garage rock intro of ‘Five, For Three, Too’, which is full of a familiar quiet-to-loud divide, courtesy of the pulsating rhythm section.
There’s more of the same on the edgy, splendidly titled ‘Did You Hear About Pluto?…That’s Messed Up Right? with Spoon like minimalism and a mid-number break-down. It almost feels like a pause before they strike out again via an unlikely meeting of electronics, doom metal and Roth’s singular guitar sound, on a fractured piece that doesn’t quite have enough depth to convince us that there’s a genuine progression at play.
‘Brevira’ is a derivative, but promising debut that will appeal to the contemporary niche market. It remains to be seen whether the band can develop their ideas into something all of their own. ***½
Review by Pete Feenstra - Get Ready To Rock UK
EXPLORE: Bear Success – “Brevira”
Posted on 11 October, 2015 by Stavros Lainis
EXPLORE: Bear Success – “Brevira”
I like post rock it fits great in a cold autumn afternoon, though there are a few albums I can enjoy all the way through without getting bored. Brevira the debut album by NY, based band Bear Success is a bliss for the ears and mind and certainly belongs to the post-rock albums I enjoy as a whole despite its 50 minutes duration separated in 9 tracks.
Bear Success manage to produce a massive wall of sound despite the fact they are just a trio. Guitar is the leading organ of the compositions with tones ranging from celestial and ambient ones to grungy and heavily distorted.Though what makes these guitar lines sound so powerful is the rhythm section drums and bass create behind them with many tempo changes and really, really massive sound. Bass sounds thick and deep while the drums have a 70’s feel in their sound.
The production of the album is certainly a key-factor as is sounds so organic and natural giving the impression of live performance which is very likely the way the album was recorded.
Some highlights from the album are “Kyle’s Party” a representing tune for the album starting with soft guitar noodling leading to powerful and heavy playing from the trio creating a huge soundscape, as long as the last and longer tune of the album “Did you hear about pluto? That’s messed up, right?” which pretty much follows the “release-tension-release” way of progressing as it is going from soft to heavy parts and back again during its duration creating different emotions.
Brevira is a great debut full of emotional and powerful compositions and it’s certain that post-rock fans can expect more great music by Bear Success in the future.
Score: 8.0/10.
Notable tracks: “Kyle’s Party”, “Did you hear about pluto? That’s messed up, right?”
FFO: Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic
Social Media:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/BearSuccess?fref=ts - It Djents
Bear Success is an awesome new post-rock band from Long Island, New York. They released their debut album, Brevira on Downport Records July 1st, 2015. My friend showed me their music last week and I took a liking instantly. The entire album is instrumental, and it gets pretty heavy at times which I love. The dope cover art was done by Circa Survive guitarist Colin Frangicetto. Brevira is available to purchase for $10 on their Bandcamp, and you can also listen on Spotify. The band consists of Alex Rothenberg on guitar, Jeff Morris on bass, and Kyle Gallagher on drums/percussion. Their social media info is listed below. Check them out!
Bandcamp: bearsuccess.bandcamp.com
Facebook: facebook.com/BearSuccess
Instagram: instagram.com/bear_success
Twitter: twitter.com/bear_success
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/bear_success
Don't sleep on Bear Success! - Extra Chill
Discography
Brevira (July 2015)
Geoff - LIVE Downport Records Sessions (November 2015)
Photos
Bio
Upon signing with Downport Records, Long Island-natives Bear Success released their debut 9-track LP on July 1st, titled “Brevira”. Bear Success is an instrumental progressive/post rock trio that draws influence from modern bands like Explosions In The Sky, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, and Circa Survive as well as classic prog rock like Rush, Yes, and Zeppelin. The music itself is dynamic, moving between tranquil ambient sections and in-your-face progressive grooves. Between the three members, the band fills a wide range of soundscapes and tonalities to keep you on your toes. The album was recorded by Daniel LeBrun and mixed by Dominic Nastasi of Brooksite Recording Company & Downport Records and then mastered by Nicholas Starrantino at VuDu Studios, where bands like Brand New, As Cities Burn, Fuel, and The Dear Hunter have worked on their records. The album artwork was painted by Colin Frangicetto of Circa Survive. Since the release of their full length album, Bear Success has played a number of shows in the New York City and Long Island including CMJ Music Marathon 2015 which included acts like The Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack, and The Joy Formidable. They are currently in the works of writing and recording new music after changing lineup members following the release of “Brevira”. You can expect to hear new music by late 2016.
Band Members
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