Like all great seven inch releases, this Volcano the Bear disc crams a few of this band’s multiple facets into one value for money package. These three utterly independent cuts highlight a band that never seems to settle into a style, even within the constraints of a single piece of music.
Building in ritualistic whispers and steely scrapings, the title track is a moody but fragile creation. Ear pinching whines that burrow into the head are reassured into silence by the other elements. Hidden room piano notes pierce rushing cymbal runs and tape manipulation, providing the song’s core. Volcano the Bear’s ability to shape formless collections of elements without imposing a strict structure is one of their greatest talents; their prescient live playing coming to fruition in their live recordings.
The plucked strings and the thin violin investigations of the “The Ark” run contemporaneously, fuelling the possibility of cross pollinated melody. Purposefully fumbling over these options, ostracising structure, the high single toned horn parts lead the song to is end.
The minute-long closer, “The Pincher,” takes things out on a full of beans high. The sambuca and beer studio party that that birthed the song leaves it swinging unsettlingly between the headphones like a woozy, randy drunk. There’s more than a double of shot of Tom Waits on the breath of this track. Being as catchy as it is this cut-up-and-sellotaped ramshackle bash-along could do with being a few minutes longer.
Another in a long line of brilliantly inspired group (and superb solo releases), Birth of Streissand shows their collective spirit has no sign of dimming.
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