Bears? Pirates? Sounds like a Disney film to me...
The UK debut release from Minus The Bear has been a long time coming. ‘Highly Refined Pirates’ sports highly eccentric track titles, but the music itself is slick and well created. Lead-in track ‘Thanks For The Killer Game Of Crisco Twister’ show off Jake Snider’s (vocals/guitar) flair for writing witty songs that capture the very essence of quirky. “And then we all bought Yachts” simply has to be one of the most unique beginnings to a song in recent years. Minus The Bear provide a warm, relaxed soundtrack to summer. This is an album to get wasted to, to drive to, to live to. Second track ‘Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!’ may sound like one of Blink 182’s more "comical" moments, but in reality a beautiful song filled with swirling guitar pop at it’s very best hides under the unusual name. With Matt Bayles on keyboards to add in more variation, they make for a much more interesting listen than, say, Keane. (Not that that would take much.) The third track, ‘Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse’ is a sun drenched combination of the very best nuggets of beauty found in the first two tracks.
‘We Are Not A Football Team’ is one of the (many) outstanding tracks on the album. Situated in the middle of the album, it’s a refreshing change from the usual middle-of-album filler material bands normally subject listeners to. It’s slower and features beautiful lyrics. The bass purrs alongside the unobtrusive drumming and allows Snider’s smooth voice a free rein. ‘Spritz!!! Spritz!!!’ is also beautiful, sandwiched between the Kid A-esque ‘You Kill Bugs Good, Man’ and the guitar bending ‘Women We haven’t Met Yet’. The lyrics of ‘Spritz!!! Spritz!!!’ kick off straight away which is a pleasant change, even though Minus The Bear are masters of interesting beginnings.
Thirteenth track, ‘Booyah Achieved’ is a stunning work of Indie pop glory. It’s easily accessible by the masses like the rest of this album. This is an album which doesn’t fit into a genre properly and so many people of different musical tastes will find something to admire in ‘Highly Refined Pirates’. It certainly isn’t an album that will grow thinner with each repeated play, on the contrary; it will strengthen and become an album you’ll listen to fondly time and time again even if the amusing track titles will have lost their appeal.
The UK debut from Minus The Bear will be released on August the 9th on Undergroove.