Review Summary: South of the Mountain represents a fairly stripped back, thus unique, form of the brief, fairly undefined period of 2009-2013 "progressive indie rock" (a la From Indian Lakes, HRVRD). The only downside is that the follow up has taken over seven years to m
Bears and Company are a Kansas City, MO band that emerged in the brief, fairly undefined period of 2009-2013 "progressive indie rock", a la From Indian Lakes, HRVRD, Polyenso, The Republic of Wolves. Developing in a city outside major media hubs allowed the band to exist in the blended middle ground between local alternative and indie rock acts rather than the purely DIY basement-and-church-show sphere of their post-hardcore cohort. South of the Mountain represents a fairly stripped back, thus unique and accessible form of this subgenre.
On Mountain, the touchstone influences are present. Both vocalists Logan Tyler and Alexander McClain perform in the warbly tenor of Andy Hull and Nathan Hussey, with their own personality and character, of course. Melodic riffs supplied by guitarist Zach Knoll obviously draw from Circa Survive and Cody Bonnette of As Cities Burn, but the overall tones are much cleaner and instantly palatable. Drummer Allan Latini holds the solid rhythm section together with a tight pocket and flashes of linear grooves.
Tyler’s lyricism is consistent with many of his peers in that he eschews directly personal expression for amorphous, emotional storytelling of pursuits, “creatures”, and natural imagery--as on ‘We Were Brothers’: “My dear wolves take my flesh for warmth / It has no use for me now.” This delivery is balanced by McClain’s typically more relationship-based passages, especially when delivered in his intense spoken word/scream (“I'm scared for my heart ‘cause it's scared for me / When I crawled up your stairs I remember it vividly”). Impressively, with two vocalists/lyricists, the record maintains a consistent tone and style.
The expressive dual lead vocals and noodling guitar lines are showcased most clearly in the expansive, explosive bridges found in the album's heaviest hitters (‘We Were Brothers’, ‘Occurrence in the Wildwood’, ‘I Dreamt I Destroyed the World’), which are a key component in the Company’s song structure. It’s a not-so-subtle nod to the band’s post-rock influence. Tremolo picking, octave runs, shell chords, and delayed arpeggios (run through warm American-style combos) dominate throughout South of the Mountain rather than drop D power chord riffage. The clean tone and overall production quality allow the band to keep a foot deep in the emo pool (‘After the Quake’) while also remaining attractive to the more mainstream indie fare of Local Natives (‘Carroll Deering’).
Bears and Company successfully present themselves on South of the Mountain as equals to the other bands that came up in their genre’s heyday. The only downside is that the follow up has taken over seven years to materialize. This record is an under the radar classic.
Recommended Tracks:
After the Quake
Occurrence in the Wildwood
We Were Brothers
