The Bunny The Bear - A Liar Wrote This

The Eccentric Post-Hardcore Duo Return With Matured Sound

The Bunny The Bear are arguably one of the most unique post-hardcore bands currently on the scene, blending synthpop, metalcore and experimental rock to create a sound that is as weird as it is identifiable. Essentially a one man project of Matthew Tybor as he writes all of the lyrics and music himself and performs mainly unclean vocals with the support from a constantly changing studio band and clean vocalist Chris Hukta, who has provided the clean vocals since the début album back in 2010. 

'A Liar Wrote This' is the first The Bunny The Bear album to not feature Chris Hukta's iconic voice that is rich in range and emotion. Hukta was replaced in 2014 by studio partner and friend of Tybor, Hayley Roback, after they released a bunch covers onto soundcloud and as Roback started to join The Bunny The Bear on tour, she was eventually announced as Hukta's official replacement.

It's pretty clear from the start of the album, the opening interlude 'Vows' and track 'Love, Trust and Compromise' that the band's sound has matured, with the synth as good as completely removed from the whole album. Tybor's lyrics get more stirring and emotive in every album and he has once again bettered himself in 'A Liar Wrote This'. Matt Tybor has also improved vocally too, this latest record features his finest sounding unclean vocals since 2011's 'If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say', in this album he also provides a lot of the clean vocals alongside Hayley 'Bear 4.0' Roback. Unfortunately this leads to one of my main issues with this record, I don't know if it's because I'm personally biased towards former singer Chris Hukta or if it's just that Roback isn't that good of a singer, but I find her clean vocals hard to bare throughout the album, Tybor and Roback do partner up together well, creating a smooth contrast between vocals, especially in 'Lover's Touch' and the revisit of 'It's Not Always Cold In Buffalo', but I feel like although she does shine in one or two tracks, Hayley's cleans really let the record down.

It's safe to say The Bunny The Bear are moving forward and 'A Lair Wrote This' is a stepping stone in the right direction definitely, the more anthemic songs on this album like 'Love, Trust And Compromise' 'It's Not Always Cold In Buffalo' and 'Sleep Sequence' had moments that gave me shivers or made my hair stand on edge because, negatives aside, it's great to see a band change their sound so much and still have beautiful moments of genius. Hopefully the next step for The Bunny The Bear is to really focus on a more complete version of this new sound and really get the best out of Hayley Roback.

6/10

/ POST-HARDCORE / EXPERIMENTAL ROCK /

FAV TRACKS - Love, Trust, Compromise - Lovers Touch - Sleep Sequence - Somewhat Standards -
LEAST FAV TRACKS - Curtain Call - Sick, Sad Eyes - Loose Lips -

INTERVIEW WITH MATT TYBOR

Matthew Tybor (The Bunny The Bear) Interview

With The Bunny The Bear's latest album 'A Liar Wrote This' due to come out on the 24th I managed to ask Matt Tybor a few questions regarding the project and what to expect in the future.

Q. How do you feel the project has changed since the arrival of Hayley Roback?

Matt. As far as change, I think the project and the sound has matured, I don't know if that means I've been "thinking out of the box" or what. I do think the more recent albums have been more consultant from track to track.

Q. Is this mature sound a sign of what to expect in the future or will you be more unpredictable when it comes to genre and sound?

Matt. When it comes to the future I have no idea what [The Bunny The Bear] will become, I suppose it depends on what I want it to be at that time and where I am mentally, emotionally and musically.

Q. Do you plan on revisiting anymore tracks like Its Not Always Cold In Buffalo?

Matt. I wouldn't be closed to the idea, so it will most likely happen.

Q. Finally do you see yourself working with Hayley in the future or would you like to experiment with different vocalists?

Matt. I'll definitely be keeping Hayley around. 

'A Liar Wrote This' By The Bunny The Bear is out 24th July 2015, with a review available from 25th July. 

Being As An Ocean - Being As An Ocean

BAAO Mix Previous Sounds and Find Perfect Medium

Being As An Ocean stormed into the melodic hardcore scene with their 2012 début album 'Dear G-d' which I still think to this day is the best album the genre has to offer, with a blend of spoken word and strong conceptual lyrics, emotional storytelling and breathtakingly beautiful instrumentals. 'Dear G-d' still stands out as vocalist Joel Quartuccio's finest album of BAAO's discography, his clean vocals are unbelievable and they flow so well with his uncleans which could give deathcore's finest a run for their money. Then in 2014 they returned with 'How We Both Wondrously Perish' a more diverse album which stayed firm to the melodic hardcore genre, the first notable difference being new guitarist and clean vocalist Michael McGough, the second was how the similarities in tracks made this album seem like a step back from 'Dear G-d'. 'How We Both Wonderously Perish' sounded great musically and had the emotion but lacked the depth and passion that made 'Dear G-d' so breathtaking.

With their latest effort, the self titled 'Being As An Ocean', the Alpine based group have once again not settled for a similar sound, this time mixing the immersive storytelling and the beautiful, hard hitting vocals of 'Dear G-d' with the strong musical structure and hardcore influences in 'How We Both Wonderously Perish'. 

Musically this is Being As An Ocean's strongest album, McGough's clean vocals are eerily beautiful from the opening line of first track 'Little Richie' right to the powerfully direct conclusion '...And Their Consequence', McGough employed a more limited range compared to 2014's 'How We Both Wondrously Perish', but this is definitely not a bad thing as the tone perfectly matches the extremely touching lyrics throughout this record. Joel Quartuciccio's vocals are intense and unrestrained all the way through this album, matching the raw anger of 'Dear G-d' but with added excitement brought on by Joel's more diverse vocal range.

Being As An Ocean have been more experimental with their sound, blending a number of genres to their core sound and, on occasions, even drifting away from their core genre of melodic hardocre and almost completely removing breakdowns and guttural vocals to give the record a more post-hardcore sound to it. The opening tracks 'Little Richie' and 'Ain't Nobody Perfect' perfectly capture the albums concept instantly through the atmospheric guitars and no holds barred alternative rock style. The best example of BAAO still being able to pull off their classic blends of melodic hardcore and spoken word are 'The Zealot's Blindfold' which shows off vocalists Joel and Michael's ability to create the perfect contrast between the clean and unclean vocals without the transitions sounding forced, which is a common occurrence in modern hardcore sub-genres. 'The World As A Stage' shows off Being As An Ocean's core melodic hardcore skills, with an intro that resembles that of fellow bands Hundredth or Counterparts, with a fast tempo start which slows into a mellow more clean vocal lead middle which fades out beautifully.

Though there are many great examples of spoken word in this album, there are a few tracks that do fall flat, in particular 'St. Peter', which sees the lyrics completely eclipsed by the instrumentals, this also stands out as one of the few tracks where McGough really fails to shine. The other track on this album that falls short is 'Sleeping Iscarii' a song that plain and simply bored me, unlike every other song on this album there wasn't a stand out moment throughout the track for me, this is also the only track where the lyrics failed to grab my attention.

Very few negatives aside, 'Being As An Ocean' shows a more established sound which helps it shine just as bright as their début, and shows a definite improvement from their previous album. Being As An Ocean are once again just a few steps off pure musical nirvana.

8/10

/ MELODIC HARDCORE / SPOKEN WORD / POST-HARDCORE /

FAV TRACKS: - Little Richie - Ain't Nobody Perfect - The Zealot's Blindfold - The World As A Stage - ...And Their Consequence -
LEAST FAV TRACKS: - St. Peter - Sleeping Iscarii -