Lost Bear is not just an indie band from The Netherlands - they are nice bunch of bands playing mixes of different genres and getting away it. On their new album Donkey Shot the music of the other projects that the members indulge in have found its way back to the Mothership. The influences of The World of Dust, Stefan Breuer's lo-fi one-man band, and Sven Agaath, the genre-bending duo formed by Gino Miniutti and Arno Breuer can be heard shimmering through the tracks of the album. What makes Lost Bear instantly identifiable however, are the vocals of Casper Steenhuizen, who sounds like a mix of Robert Smith and Alex Chilton: snarling passive-aggressive aloofness.
On Donkey Shot they switch between shoegaze (Bull Drool), post-rock (Back In Reverse) and Captain Beefheart-inspired all out weirdness (the monolithic Little Big Adventure). Creepy New Wave comes to fore during Starlings in which they manage to sound like a very frightened Soft Cell. When they name a track Rap Song. you can be sure it doesn't sound like one.
Lost Bear is destined to remain an underground favorite. Bands like these are essential for their risk taking work ethic, with trail and error as the driving force for musical cross-pollination. Maybe they will end up as a footnote, but they deserve a chapter in a future handbook about Dutch DIY indie music.
Lost Bear:
Arno Breuer: drums
Gino Miniutti: bass
Gibson Houwer: keys
Stefan Breuer: guitar
Casper Steenhuizen: vocals
Donkey Shot will be released on Tiny Room Records (180 grams vinyl and digital). And since donkeys are great, the band will donate € 1 for every sold record to Stichting de Grote ezel, the lovely organization where they had the photo shoot for the album cover. Release date: October 4th.
Listen to whole album below (HCTF exclusive).
Tracks:- Carnivorous Plankton
- Hallway Of Echoes
- Muscovy
- Rap Song
- Little Big Adventure
- Starlings
- White Grubs
- Bull Drool
- Back In Reverse
- Spooky Jimmy
- Love Me Tender
- 09/28 Landbouwbelang, Maastricht (w/ Moon Moon Moon)
- 10/14 De Kromme Haring, Utrecht (album release show w/ Howrah)
- 10/28 Vondelbunker, Amsterdam (w/ Moon Moon Moon + This Leo Sunrise)
- 11/21 MIR, Rotterdam (w/ Ilsha + Mighty Sands)
- 12/09 De Graauwe Hengst, Schiedam (w/ Surface Noise)
HCTF review of Inside The Dragon.