3 out of 5

Label: Suicide Squeeze

Produced by: Matt Bayles

Everything I would come to hate and love about Minus the Bear was right there from the start: the shitty, frat boy lyrics that are belted out as goddamn catchy melodies; the emo-math wank that hovers on the verge of hardcore riffage, veering into awesomely satisfying rockout moments; and the electronic interstitials. … There’s not really a good side to those, in my opinion. 

But while I wasn’t really sure how to fit this in with what I expected from the label (Suicide Squeeze) or from band members with their pedigree (Botch, Kill Sadie), that’s also kind of the story of Minus the Bear: I’d argue their sound was a big step toward further making indie music more mainstream than it was, which fit well with the developing digital age, blossoming into a music landscape where people flit back and forth between huge popstars and one-hit unknowns discovered on tik-tok or etc; the group casually sidled between punk and math and pop and did it with a very self-aware (aw, but self-effacing) smirk. 

You roll your eyes; you can’t help but sing along. 

This debut EP still sounds somewhat like a side project, but that doesn’t discount how catchy the sound already is, just that it has a slight shtick to it, as evidenced by those song titles – something that would take a few releases to shake. Matt Bayles’ production is glossy and elastic; MTB lean into it and get the most out of explosions of distortion between finger-tapped melodies. This is the compressed version of Highly Refined Pirates, which is good from a no-filler perspective, but also prevents the EP from necessarily finding breakout moments that were sprinkled lovably across that album. It is an interesting, wholly familiar but undefinable sound. Bereft of singles, but frustrating and / or compelling in such a way that you’re curious what comes next.

…Which was much of the same! Except with more confidence, as MTB would be the torchbearer for semiserious emo-rock bands to come. Witness them at their most bratty.