Hailing from Vancouver and signed to Hidden Bay Records, Be Afraid are refreshed with a brand new line-up and are set to release their new EP, the presciently titled ‘Remember Fun’, on 8 May.
The guitar-driven indie-pop of ‘Birdbrain’ opens the EP with fuzzy guitar hooks, glorious ’60s melodies and loose drums as the band look back on the past with fondness and nostalgia: ‘We were good when we were young. That’s when we had our fun’. ‘You Lose Continue’ follows in this timeless pop vein as the band prepare – with dual vocals – to take on the world, although this changes when they realize ‘You and I were overtaken’. ‘Crawling Now’ has a woozy sound that reminded us of The Hold Steady or Ben Kweller’s early albums as Be Afraid talk about natural born killers and peculiar faces.
‘Some Silly Reason’ is jaunty and jangly song with cowbell and self-depreciating lyrics (‘If you need a shoulder to lean on, what would the solution be? If you need an ear to hear you, I’ve probably got a place to be’; ‘If you’re worrying we’re stagnating, the ship already left the pier’) that recalls Teenage Fanclub while the penultimate ‘My Boy’ mixes power pop with heartbreak and self-loathing: ‘Wouldn’t do it if I was sober but at the bar one night we both discussed the things we hated and myself came to mind’. The closing ‘Automatic Worry’ has party vibes in its frantic riffs as the band wonder whether their past actions will put off a potential suitor: ‘I’m just worried I’ll miss the train. I’m just trying to make the change’.
‘Remember Fun’? You’ll have a whale of a time with Be Afraid’s latest EP.
