Hunter & The Bear – Wildfire EP
When I first started listening to this EP, I wasn’t certain if it fell within the margins of Americana/roots/folk/rock. But, after several listens, I heard something that was interesting. Setting aside that not everything should adhere to a strict fiddle-banjo-acoustic guitar-type of lineup, I paid attention more than I usually do.
Hunter & The Bear comes from the UK, but they explore the back roads of this genre of music in a muscular manner. The band’s vocalist displays controlled drama while singing imaginative tales. You can cut a tree down with an axe but you can also cut it down with a chainsaw … I heard a buzz.
Taking a page from obscure bands with similarly powerful, impassioned vocals and musicianship – Big Back Forty (“Blood” & “Been So Gone”), The C. Gibbs Band (“Irish”), and the imaginative The Call with the late Michael Been –Hunter & The Bear have sculptured a sound that is equally passionate.
Contrary to the wimp-rock of many younger bands – with their directionless, lame, whiney, dramatic, over-emoting lead vocals – I found this music filled with high test notes and musicianship that was spirited, whipped into a delightful frenzy of chiming guitars, driving percussion, and those ever-present, searing Will Irvine vocals.
The opening track on this carefully nurtured EP is “Burn It Up.” A driving, multi-layered roots-rocker that smolders long after it’s stopped playing. It leads into the dynamic ballad “Since September,” with its depth and melodic hook. It plods along, filled with emotion and a torrent of flexing guitars. The supportive back-up vocals are assertive. It simply sweeps you up in its musical veneer. Each time I listened, I could have chosen different adjectives. The lyrics are powerful, sensitive, and far from lame.
This is roots-rock for those who cook their summer eggs on the roof of their pick-up trucks: thoroughly enjoyable, and worth many listens.
The next tune – “Shadow Man” – has equally melodic strains. Constructed with a balance of grit and bravura, Gareth Thompson’s drums are well-recorded and sharp, and Irvine’s lead vocals continue to be impeccably balanced, with both drama and poignancy, in that powerhouse style of Elvis Presley, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Michael Been, and Jim Morrison. As distinctive as the vocal is, the songs are sung with power and little effort to showboat. It’s just not necessary when you command such a generous instrument in your throat and your heart is connected to it with the right amount of soul. He sings these songs in an unflinching style – confident, and incendiary. The disc is full of clean guitar signatures and tight instrumentation.
“Battle Scars” has a warmer vintage guitar sound and tone. Hunter & The Bear have unified singing reminiscent of an older style, which suggests that the band could easily sing country-inflected tunes, though not necessarily with a redneck edge. Something similar to the alt-country song “Burial Ground of the Broken Hearted,” which Hege V released in 1987.
While some people may say lead singer Irvine sounds a tad like Darius Rucker, I would disagree. There’s an edginess to his vocals that Rucker doesn’t have. The final track on this fine EP is “Blood Red Skies.” This poignant song builds slowly and swells into a beautiful, dynamic ballad.
Irvine’s mannered singing reminds me of the great single album “Goodbye To All That,” released several years ago by The Low and Sweet Orchestra. That band featured similar vocals by Mark Martt and the LP was loaded with terrific songs: (“Sometimes The Truth Is All You Get,” “Miss Her Anyway”). Hunter & The Bear are picking up where bands such as this left off – and it’s commendable because it’s a vein well worth mining again.
The only difference between bands like C. Gibbs, Big Back Forty, The Call, and The Low and Sweet Orchestra is that these bands had far more instrumental diversity. The addition of some other “sounds” into Hunter & The Bear would be beneficial, sometime in the near future. But for now, I really can’t criticize. I like what I hear.
Nevertheless, an entire album of Hunter & The Bear – I am quite confident – would be a great listen. They tweaked my ears and after a few listens I was looking forward to their material. I am intrigued by this band. They have something to say and they are saying it creatively. They don’t come across like the standard garden variety flavor-of-the-month band which gets stale quickly.
Not many in the music business today sound like Will Irvine. The vocalists with the Crashtest Dummies and the one with the band Vitalis (“Lady of the Night”) were great, but just too deep and unorthodox to sustain listeners’ interest over a long period. Irvine’s vocals and onstage personality is appealing and it translates from the studio to the stage. As previously mentioned, one other band that reminds me of this band is The Call. Fronted by the late Michael Been. They too had a variety of songs that were intense, compelling, and performed with intelligence and power.
“Let the Day Begin” was one of the songs they are remembered for and this song was used by VP Al Gore when he was running against George Bush for president. But they too, needed to add other instruments to fill out their diverse program. The Band’s Garth Hudson often added keyboards, accordion, and other instruments to The Call. Actor Harry Dean Stanton played harmonica. It’s an important facet.
Hunter & The Bear has absolutely everything they need to continue to sculpt work that is graceful, melancholy, exciting and at times incendiary. Their present sound is attractive, and I am looking forward to more. There is a passion that runs through their presentation and it’s catchy.
I began to believe I wasn’t going to hear any more lead singers with the uniqueness of a Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, John Lennon or Jim Morrison. But maybe there is still hope. Will Irvine has a stronger voice than Dave Matthews, John Popper, or even Bono. They straddle that wire between the bands I mentioned. Some of the more distinct vocals of the “newer” generation that originally included singers from Collective Soul and Counting Crows seem to have drifted off unfortunately. But, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder recently released a roots album — and I found that surprisingly good.
But, Hunter & The Bear does maintain its rough-hewed roots-oriented clever musical bakery stocked with goodies. I listened more than once. They are absolutely striking and have a propensity to their showcase. Don’t tell me alt-roots music can’t be powerful or imported from the UK. In many ways, roots music originated in the UK — where do you think all those Appalachian people originated from?
Is their music traditional? Probably not. Faithful to the form? Musically and arrangement-wise, absolutely. It’s incisive, firm, with a profusion of ideas that are not slapped together haphazardly and this new collection only has five songs.
In cooking, you can cheat with the recipe and its ingredients. But, with baking you can’t cheat. Everything needs to be measured properly. Hunter & The Bear bakes.
Whatever they bake, I will eat. It’s that good.
The band is: Jimmy Hunter (Lead Guitar-Mandolin-Vocals), Will Irvine (Lead Vocals-Rhythm Guitar), Gareth Thompson (Drums & Vocals) and Chris Clark (Bass & Vocals).
Website: http://www.hunterandthebear.co.uk/
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this review / commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of No Depression. All photography is owned by the respective photographers and is their copyrighted image; credited where photographer’s name was known & being used here solely as reference and will be removed on request.
John Apice / No Depression / July 2014