Artist: Golden-Bears
Title: Are You Falling In Love?
Label: Slumberland Records
Catnr: XQFN-1094
Genre: Indie
Encoder: LAME 3.100 V0 VBR
Quality: 279 Kbps Avg / 44100 Hz
Time: 38:41
Size: 81.45 MB
Rip Date: 2022-11-26
Str Date: 2011-09-21
URL: http://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/album/are-you-falling-in-love
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Tracklist:
1. Record Store 3:48
2. All Those Years 2:12
3. So Natural 2:25
4. Are You Falling In Love? 3:51
5. East Station Attendant 1:56
6. Totally Called It 3:11
7. In This City, I'm Invincible 1:24
8. Besides You 3:21
9. Tally 2:08
10. Xmas Song 3:52
11. Yeah, Tonight 5:19
12. Tally (Single Version) 1:58
13. Jezzer 1:28
14. HK Song 1:48
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Note:
Gold-Bears formed in 2010 when Jeremy Underwood recruited a few friends to play
songs he'd stockpiled since the demise of his former band, Plastic Mastery (555
Recordings/Magic Marker Records). The band quickly released a smashing 7" on
Magic Marker Records, recalling the immediacy and urgency of Boyracer or The
Wedding Present melding with the pop sensibilities of Slumberland contemporaries
like Summer Cats and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They expanded their sound
a bit on their next release ( a 4-song 7" on Miami-based indie pop imprint
Cloudberry Records) by stripping away some of the fuzz on one song and adding
drone elements a la the Microphones to another while still maintaining their
indie punk roots.
After hibernating in their home studio for the winter, Gold-Bears emerge with
*Are You Falling In Love?*, an even further expansion of the band's sound. This
11-song collection of frenzied crash pop, strummy ballads, and syncopated pop
dirges is one of the most dynamic indie pop records of recent. In just over 33
minutes Gold-Bears funnels jangly noise pop soundscapes through the energy of
Titus Andronicus' punk anthems, and even manage to give us a few breathers for
slower tunes that showcase Underwood's more sincere vocals.
The album kicks off with "Record Store," a song so full of infectious spirit
that it seems like the rhythm section can hardly keep up. "Record Store" segues
seamlessly into "All Those Years," one of the catchiest, poppiest songs in their
repertoire. From the initial "ba ba bas" to the sugary sweet harmonies provided
by Kristine Capua (Very Truly Yours) you instantly know that this song will
never leave your head. Smack dab in the middle of the album is the shoegazey
"Are You Falling in Love?," which bowls you over with a thumping bass line,
calculated drumming, guitars that sound like airplanes and bees and lush
violins. Toward the end of the album we hear "Xmas Song," a song about the
insecurities of love set to the tune of a crash pop classic, rife with feedback
and fuzz that'll fit nicely on your mixtape following This Poison! or Neutral
Milk Hotel, depending on who you are trying to impress.
The 11 songs on this album are brimming with gentle majesty and fervent energy.
Whether you follow the stories in the lyrics of the songs or bop around your
room to the jangly guitars, this album will surely remain on your turntable for
months. Because after all, you have, indeed, fallen in loveí¡ with Gold-Bears.
Japanese edition includes 3 bonus tracks.