CATBEAR – Queen City Sounds and Art

CATBEAR Tells Us How Self-Acceptance is Attainable on Breezy Synth Pop Single “It’s Okay”

“It’s Okay” finds synth pop duo CATBEAR making a strong yet sensitive statement about self-acceptance. The pace of the song and its typically tonally rich synths are reminiscent of early Ladytron and Pleasure Victim-period Berlin. The touch of guitar shimmer washes bring a gentle texture the song that enhances the mood. When the rhythm drops out we’re left with the warmly comforting vocals and ethereal streaming it’s like an extended moment to rest and relax, to let one’s guard down as the song suggests and to step into a complete sense of self rather than one more edited for arbitrary standards of acceptance on any level. Listen to “It’s Okay” on Spotify and follow CATBEAR at the links below. The group’s new album For Now, For Ever is available now on limited edition vinyl, digital download and streaming.

CATBEAR Evokes a Deep Sense of Regret and Yearning in the Immersive, Soulful Synthpop of “Darkness”

CATBEAR just released its new full-length For Now, For Ever (out on vinyl, CD, download and streaming) and for a taste of what the record has to offer you can listen to the single “Darkness.” The song begins with some white noise like the waves washing ashore in the nighttime distance. But then the duo’s immersive and rich synth melodies and soulfully melancholic vocals take over seeming to slow dance and sway over the pulsing and accented rhythms. The song seems to be one about people who were in love and parted ways thinking they found someone more suitable and maybe they did but unable to fully shake that earlier connection. It strikes the perfect tone for late night reflection in a certain kind of mood that takes you when you wonder if you’ve messed up but resigned to your choices like an adult. And yet sometimes someone stays in some dark corner of your heart possibly forever and maybe life will bring you back together. The song seems to honor these complex feelings with its emotional atmospherics and intensely evocative melodies. Listen to “Darkness” on Spotify and follow CATBEAR at the links below.

“Carry On” Finds UK Dream Pop Duo CATBEAR in a More Darkwave Mode Reflecting on the Need to Sustain Ourselves Through Challenging Times

“Carry On” finds UK-based dream pop band CATBEAR in a more darkwave mode. The brooding bass line and icy synth establish a more somber mood and the vocals this time seem even more introspective. The lyrics seem to catalog all the things we’ve done to struggle through times and situations in life and in the world with no seeming end to a need to restart, retool, re-strategize, re-imagine ourselves, our situations and our ability to keep going on. Thus the title of the song. Sometimes it feels like you can only tell yourself that sort of thing to keep from falling completely into despair when challenges and setbacks just keep falling into your path and our collective journey as a species. But the glimmer of melody that flashes into the song hints at moments when something a little more than the usual breaks through what could be a gloomy present and the strong rhythms of the song like a fortifying internal momentum to hang onto. Listen to “Carry On” on Spotify and follow CATBEAR at the links below.

CATBEAR’s Brisk and Urgent Synth Pop Single “Grow Up” Speaks Truth to the Lie of Striving Culture

The brisk pace and forward momentum of CATBEAR’s new track “Grow Up” gives the song an upbeat quality but as the song progresses that urgency reveals itself to be a barely controlled desperation. The melodic dissolves and swells and expertly accented pace lends a cinematic quality to this song about how we’ve all been sold a bill of goods about society and its system of rewards and how we’re told to “grow up” when doing so means to have achieved middle class definitions of success even when the middle class is basically non-existent and that hard work and being “responsible” often means treading water and nothing more. But that feedback reinforcement mechanism we’ve all been conditioned to believe is just not adequate to meet the moment when people become acutely aware of the complete fraud of late capitalism. Does growing up and going into the working world mean simply grinding away at a dead end job with little chance of getting ahead with the promise of such dangled in front of you perpetually out of reach for most people? How does one cope with this bleak reality with ecological collapse and civilizational implosion seeming not too far on the horizon with the powers that be doing fuck all about it? It’s not cynical, as is said in the song, to not believe in this fake dream anymore even as a way to get through to a better job or better prospects. After all who has time for a finding a better job and qualifying for one when you’re working a job that leaves you feeling worn out at the end of the day? Or two jobs or two and a half? When the band sings the line “(It’s a test), it’s a test/And we try, just to find, the cheat code to life” it rings true because the game is rigged against you if you weren’t born to great privilege. When conservative types criticize “quiet quitting” and other such phenomena they’re the ones who are delusional thinking people should have to surrender their entire lives for not being born “lucky.” CATBEAR’s song is less than three minutes long but it gets to the heart of the anxieties of modern life with a catchy song synth pop song succinctly and with a poetic truth that even getting to hear it feels like validation and not dismissal of one’s concerns. Listen to “Grow Up” on Spotify and follow London’s CATBEAR at the links below.

CATBEAR’s Buoyant Synthpop Single “Rush” is a Song About Finding the Sustained Impetus to Living in the Moment

CATBEAR’s appropriately titled “Rush” has real momentum behind its vulnerable and irresistible melodies. It’s a song about being in the moment, in older parlance of being in the zone, when you feel engaged and filled up with the emotional energy that feels vital and infuses every moment with a sense of purpose and excitement. Many things can inspire these feelings (being in love, feeling like you’re in the right place at the right time in life, a stretch when things seem to be going just right for you) but whatever it is it uplifts one’s spirit and makes having motivation feel effortless. It is the opposite of being depressed without being in a manic mode. The band’s use of sweeps and accented tones over a propulsive yet minimal beat makes the song reminiscent of a mid-80s synth pop song except rather than an excessive guitar solo pulls an almost spoken word line to add a moment of dramatic seriousness that helps to provide contrast and makes the music on either side of it shine even brighter. Interestingly though the song is about, yes, a rush of feeling the band reigns in musical excess in favor of a focus that really gives the song its consistently impactful boost. Listen to “Rush” on Spotify and follow London’s CATBEAR at the links below.

CATBEAR’s Lush and Romantic “Higher” is a Synthpop Song About the Virtues of Undistracted Conversation

CATBEAR’s “Higher” is inspired by a time before video calls when people only heard a voice on the other end of a phone and you only had words and your imagination in connecting with people. A time when maybe you would actually talk with friends and lovers for long periods of time late into the night discussing whatever came to mind without the distraction of visuals or the pressure to share anything. Your focus could and would be just on that moment and the undeniable emotional bond of it almost as pure as that could be. The music has a retro synthpop feel with the hazy synths and infinite horizons that matches well with the romance inherent to the song’s lyrics and concept with soulful and soothing vocals that are lush and introspective that lead you through a journey into a moment of emotional intimacy and deep affection, something that seemed more attainable decades ago and could be again if everyone involved were committed to not being on call or on demand to the social and economic forces of our current era even if only for a night or a day. CATBEAR makes that seem not only possible but inherently desirable with this song. Listen to “Higher” on Spotify and follow London synthpop duo CATBEAR at the links provided.