Straw Bear
Album: Black Bank
Label: Oil Bug
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.strawbear.com

This is quite an odd album, even by the standards of odd. Its musical character is part-alt-pop, part-folk, part-indie; its occasionally flatlined musical climate allegedly stemming from the uncompromising intransigencies of the isolated Fenland studio in which it was recorded. But that doesn't mean it's unyielding or impenetrable; in fact the reverse, for it's actually rather listener-friendly.

Lyric-wise, each of the band's songs would seem to emanate from, and be inhabited by, one individual voice with its own distinct standpoint, whatever the character the writer is choosing to adopt in each case; and although there's no indication of authorship on the accompanying info I'd assume it's singer Ian Ray who's responsible. It could be categorised as whimsical observational writing, quirky but not geeky, that gives unconventional, imaginative insights into human behaviour and experience; and, as often with such writing, there can be rather more within than meets the ear. Two of the songs (Urban Fox and Cocker Pug) are even given from the animal's viewpoint. Yet there are sinister overtones and undertones too, on City Beneath The Sea and Black Fog; nothing is quite what it seems, despite the clever, catchy and accessible melodic content, while at the same time the slightly detached quality of the vocal delivery can render the lyrics even more enigmatic.

Instrumentation is definitively guitar-based, but with indie-folky touches provided by fiddle on several songs. The ramblesome and winsome melody lines might be said to have echoes of The Smiths on tracks like Snobbery, while there's shades of Undertones in the insistent riffing of She's Inimitable and State Of The Union, and distinct touches of Brit-pop on other tracks.

It may well be, then, that on first acquaintance you (like me) won't know quite what to make of Straw Bear. They don't exactly play their cards close to the chest, but equally they don't exactly reveal all - which is almost always the hallmark of a band worth your time and attention over a longer period.

David Kidman