Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes)

The well-meaning gent that suggested I try this band called them “prog-psych,” which, to these ears promised a paring of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” Status Quo with Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway . I.e., 1968 meets 1974. But this Brooklyn (by way of the deep south) foursome’s second LP turns out to be of more recent nomenclature. On it’s first half, it’s more like Blondie’s “Heart of Glove”-type electro-disco done with a harder industrial, electro-pop edge, where synths and rock dance beats collide in a comfortably numb, paranormal panoramic Pink Floyd soundtrack slash and burn. Over top of this dancey maelstrom, Jon Philpot ’s boyish, high voice cascades in a flurry of long-held-vowels at the end of his lines (eeeeeeeeeeeee, oooooooooooo, aaaaaaaaaaaa being the main three), his voice like an odd blend of Yes’s Jon Anderson and Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson—if those two had taken over Flaming Lips’ vocals from Wayne Coyne. The second half then turns dark, foreboding, and unnerving (And Philpot starts sounding a bit like Perry Ferrell), as they’d channeled Siouxsie & the Banshees bassist Steven Severin and Brian Eno and Berlin Bowie’s art rock synths with a touch of Joy Division. In the end, I don’t think I would call either half prog-psych; or really anything —which is its main worth. Bear in Heaven don’t sound exactly like anyone or anything. That’s what we wanted, right? (home-tapes.com)