Broken Bear: 3 EP LP – album review

Broken Bear: 3 EP LP

(Self Released) 

Limited CD, D|L and Streaming

Out now

Broken Bear, the female fronted alt-rock, indie, psych, shoe-gaze, grunge duo from Epsom have released their 3 EP LP

Featuring Laura on lead vocals, guitars and drums, and Paul on bass, synths, drums and backing vocals, Broken Bear make garage, grungy alt-rock. Their sound is influenced by the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac and The Cranberries to name a few. Their 3 EP LP’ is a sonic distillation of these influences.They’ve also supported the likes of Razorlight and Toploader, but let’s not judge them on that.

The 3 EP’s in question here are 2021’s Gonna Let It Burn and Voices In The Hurricane and then the most recent, 2022’s The Void which account for 13 tracks, with the 2020 single Help Us an added bonus.

The first 4 tracks are from The Void. After a couple of grungy tracks, the title track and Toxic Positivity; Endless Sleep is a little more breezy. It’s moody and ethereal, somewhere between The Sundays and the Cocteau Twins, but with more guitars. I like that way that Laura’s vocals mix with the instrumentation and carry the songs along. Delusional finishes the set.

The next 5 tracks are from Gonna Let It Burn. The opening Narx perhaps the track with the most obvious influences. It’s got guitar hooks and melodies direct from Nirvana’s Nevermind. Perhaps unsurprisingly there is also a spot of The Pixies as well. The tracks are mainly moody and downtempo however the final track of the set, Freedom In A Cage, stripped back sounds like something from Siouxsie And The Banshee’s later years.

Bleach It kicks off the 3rd phase, taken from the Voices In The Hurricane. There is a Nirvana element again to the guitars as Laura’s vocals exist in a space between Courtney and Kurt. It’s haunting, as is Follow The Rabbit which would be ideal in a Stranger Things like streaming series. Throughout the music is cinematic, it’s not always the easiest of listens but it is compelling.

Closing the set on a high is the oldest released track on the collection, the aforementioned Help Me. The music of Broken Bear are is something I can imagine Billie Eilish fans discovering and loving in years to come.

Broken Bear can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or see him on Twitter as @iainkey.

Source: louderthanwar.com