Bear in Heaven - Time Is Over One Day Old (2014)

Brooklyn synth-rock outfit Bear in Heaven will release their fourth studio album, Time Is Over One Day Old, on August 5th via Dead Oceans. The 10-track effort is the first to feature new drummer Jason Nazary, who, according to a press release, “adapts and adds to Bear in Heaven’s sound and structure.”

The press release adds that the album is “very much in the tradition of (2012’s) I Love You, It’s Cool. It’s beautiful; it’s moving. They carefully balance moments of joyful simplicity and deep complexity. It’s easy to see why musicians fall hard for this band. They entice and envelop you. Any Bear in Heaven song will most likely greet you with a provocative beat, textural synthesizers and unassuming but adeptly supportive bass and guitar, all exquisitely arranged and glistening. It’s a kind of density that you want to bite right into.”

“Here, we’re setting aside the things that most people focus on [and instead] staking our claim in some ethereal place,” said frontman Jon Philpot. “A lot of shedding, getting rid of layers and pre-conceptions… breaking up with old ways of thinking, old ways of being, starting to look at this thing in a new way and finding something positive.”

As our first taste of the album, the band’s unveiled “Time Between”. Following the sleek and sensuous I Love You, “Time Between” sees the band dirty things up a bit. The synths sound filthy and unmaintained, the drums thud just slightly out of time, and even the studio effects are unpolished. Still, Philpot’s vocals serve as the emotional core, a mix of lusty crooning and evocative wailing.