Sat Sept 3,
Bumbershoot's
What's Next Stage, 9 pm.
Minus the Bear's second full-length, Menos el Oso, is the year's anti-standard indie-rock record. It flaunts a nostalgic aura through a journey of memories past. A steady rhythm section flows beneath Jake Snider's sturdy vocals while Dave Knudson's staccato guitar compositions lightly dance on the surface, consistently adding both a vibrant beauty and an anxious energy to the music. Matt Bayles's electronic flourishes have never sounded more necessary, filling those empty corners with unusual melodies.
The music's strong dynamics only enhance Snider's lyrics, which play out like movies as he poetically describes past situations down to the specific time and place. He recalls an innocent snow day on "Hooray" ("It's cold and snow's actually on the ground/Of this no-snow town/And instead of cars/The street's trafficking in sleds/Men become boys again"), and visits a night of drinking and flirting in "The Fix" ("The distance between our bodies/Is a problem that we can fix/They moved slow through the current and found/Their bodies touching"). Whether or not these scenarios are fictional isn't important, as Snider leaves them just vague enough to become a part of anyone's history. Which works, as Minus the Bear's music is made to become the soundtrack to Seattle life.
