we're checking in with an a single song review alumni this week! this is an artist that we last reviewed very nearly checks notes two, whole years ago? yes, in january 2020, which feels somewhere between 20 minutes and 50 years ago, we checked out bears in trees! a lot has changed since then, i suppose you could say. tape boi (our logo) is completely different, poor guy. he used to look all scrawny and then he found yoga. anyway. one of the best things about doing this newsletter is keeping a casual eye on artists we cover and every now and again popping back in to see how they're doing! it's even better to see them doing well, and that's exactly what's happening with this weeks song. so, check out great heights by bears in trees by clicking the play button up above.

click the picture up above to give it a listen!

what i liked! :)

this song is so dense! the attention to detail on display here is honestly, genuinely approaching west end production level. cus remember right, a lot of that west end stuff isn't detail it's volume and presence. speaking of, this song has it in spades. when the chorus comes in and you get the electro acoustic and the gang vocals and everything just working together? god damn this is a band that has figured out their sound to a t. what's more, the endearing quality we found so interesting the last time we checked them out is as strong as ever. the lyricism in particular really lands this, lines like "everybody needs a reason/everybody needs a reason/to feel absolute/to feel absolutely grim the next day" are dripping with wit and a sense of fun that feels genuine.

what i didn’t like :(

i guess the only real criticism i have is the broken up nature of the song structure makes the bridge land a lot less than maybe it was intended? the several sections in the verses where quasi spoken and dynamically lesser moments that give this song such character mean the bridge is just more of that. if the bridge had taken more of a moment to do something different it might've been a bigger and more interesting moment.

my drunk opinion :S

wish i knew rthe lyrics honestly im just singing along making shit up for the verses, choruses are easy tho that's good

for fans of

when we last covered this band, we said they sound like press to meco or the front bottoms and honestly, that is still true, but perhaps lesser so? there's a lot of influences going on here but also, just so much original development of their sound that they're v much striking out on their own and that's awesome.

should you listen to more?

i really think this new album from this band is going to blow up. they've learned a lot of lessons and put together a lot of interesting stuff in the last however long. throw into that the decent production values of being signed to a decent label and getting to take their time recording? it really shows. if you listen to the rest of their stuff, all the really good stuff about this will be here, but be prepared for things not to be as polished. that said, when the new album drops i think it's going to do very well.

more we’ve been listening to

• camp trash - bobby (camp trash is a real band and im in it)

• caveman - helpless (a cool vocalist, a funky beat and some massive synths walk into a bar...)

• future islands - plastic beach (that vocal is as crusty as it is awesome)

congratulations to nathan, winner of march’s vinyl prize draw! share a single song review with your friends to enter april’s draw :)

that’s all from us this week! catch you in the next one xo