Review Summary: Maybe it is just the ampersand that will get you confused...
Mumford &Sons must be jealous of Boy & Bear. In their tour to Australia in 2010 Marcus Mumford himself praised the band of putting together amazing, captivating and attention grabbing live show every night, but Boy & Bear didn’t need the free publicity. Soon enough, people began to notice that these guys were putting everything into all shows that they played, and by the end of the tour, the warm-up act transformed into the head liner, as they became more authentic then the Brit giants... and ever since, the popularity has never stopped growing for the Australian band, with their cover of Crowded House’s ‘Fall at Your Feet’ being voted number 5 in the Hottest 100 of 2010. Though Boy & Bear’s sound may be parallel in certain aspects to Mumford & Sons but something just seems to click that little but better, as everything flows with a sense of clarity.
Moonfire is Boy and Bear’s debut effort, and with it they bring an album that seems to understand what it is trying to achieve by not being overly enduring or exceedingly different,
Moonfire captivates from the word go, and doesn’t let go until the ending track, ‘Big Man’ last chords are strummed. Single ‘Milk and Sticks’ is full of contrasting sounds and fantastic instrumentation, focusing on the amazing vocals of front man, Dave Hosking, also being the bands most dynamic song to date. ‘Golden Jubilee’ also narrows in on the prominence of the Hosking’s vocals yet, the underlying and layering of the guitar and keyboard gives a much fuller and accomplished sound. ‘The Village’ completely changes the direction of the album, with afro beats, harmonic vocals and reggae guitar rhythms the band is definitely not struggling for variety.
Lyrically, Boy & Bear may be a little cliché but that isn’t too big a problem, as there is depth in the writing:
See my body keeps in line
And I got my whole damn life
Oh I want to be somebody, somebody, someone
You're so desperate now
Oh no you won't let it go
You bit of your tongue to become one
Though
Moonfire may lack consistency through some songs, it is definitely a fantastic debut. Harnessing the popularity achieved through the tour with Mumford & Sons and shaking off the similarity tag that they gained, Boy & Bear are out to show they don’t need the publicity from other bands as their sound
is different to Mumford & Sons. Thanks for all the hype Marcus, Boy & Bear will take it.
