Review Summary: These Stories are oceans of synths and keyboards. But that doesn't mean it can't be decent.
The Bunny The Bear has always been a guilty pleasure for me. Yes, their not the greatest band. And even that is kind of an understatement. They’re unoriginal, boring and sometimes just outright awful. But even after all of that, I’ll go back and listen to ‘The Stomach For It’ every now and then. And now, after some touring and a break, The Bunny The Bear is back with their new album, titled ‘Stories’. Will it do anything to change people’s minds about the band? No. Do they change their style? Kind of. Is it better than their previous albums? Most definitely.
This time around, ‘The Bunny’ (Matthew Tybor) is less prominent, which, for the most part, is definitely a good thing. If you haven’t figured it out already, this means that ‘The Bear’ (Chris Hutka) plays a more prominent role in the album. And my god does he not blow it. His high cleans have always been a trademark, but hear he gets to incredible feats, and adds a sort of fun to the album. Songs like ‘It’s Not Always Cold In Buffalo’ and ‘Another Day’ shows off his vocal talent, and also showcases the little talent he possesses. The songs flow well into each other, and are genuinely nice to listen to.
But, this being a The Bunny The Bear album, the guitars and drums are… well, let’s say they’re not great. A lot of the songs contain a lot of keyboard and synths, which, for the most part, is perfectly fine and doesn’t seem out of place, but when they try to incorporate guitar, bass or drums into the song, it’s left under a pool of electronic noises, which is a disappointment. Although you can’t be too surprised, considering they’ve done this since they formed. A lot of the album relies on the sound of the synths, and although it works, it feels unneeded, but again, this is The Bunny The Bear.
So although this album does nothing to bring anymore attention to the band other than hate, older fans will fall in love with this album very quickly, and anyone willing to listen will see some meaning below the ocean of keyboard and synths.
