Golden Bear, Austin’s local band of indie pop rockers are set to release their latest album, Alive, on October 18th. I got my hands on a full copy of the upcoming release and definitely wanted to let you guys know that the album delivers. The band recorded this album over the span of more than a year with the Austin recording superheroes, Danny Reisch (AMA Producer of the Year 2011, Bright Light Social Hour, Suzanna Choffel) and Eric Wofford (Explosions in the Sky, Octopus Project) and it sounds great. On Alive, Golden Bear have definitively amped up their sound. Piano parts are fuzzed out and resounding, the drums are booming and the guitars are soaring. Leaving behind a smidge of their poppiness, Golden Bear have brought some prog rock explorations to the fore on this latest LP and I’m thankful they did.
Notable highlights off the album include the singles “Who We Are” and “Prospect Park,” but my favorite jam is “Wait for the Signal.” This anthemic piano-powered song brings you along a journey filled with sweet vibraphone melodies followed by crashing cymbals and booming vox. When prompted by the lyrics to “turn up the sound and blow the eq” I admittedly did and left the volume turned up to eleven throughout the whole album.
For a sample from Alive, check out the video for “Who We Are” below. It features Golden Bear in BEASTMODE, Cornelius Fairchild the infamous hotshot record producer and Golden Bear’s lead single complete with progged-out finger tapping and machine gun drum fills.
Although the album hasn’t dropped yet, C-Side Records is offering Alive for presale here for $10 or grab the digital version of the album at Golden Bear’s Bandcamp page once October 18th hits. To catch some of these new songs sooner be sure to check out Golden Bear at the Mohawk’s 5th Anniversary Celebration on Sunday. They’ll be playing the locals only show with My Education, Transmography, Marriage and Lean Hounds.