It’s Saturday night in Williamsburg and New York’s tastemakers are out in force at Bruar Falls. If you don’t already have Bear Hands on your iPod, I’d give it some serious consideration – they’re the Brooklyn buzz band you’ll wish you’d known about before the bandwagon put the key in the ignition.
The majority of the post-punk-indie outfit’s set is percussion-led, with thumping drums and driving bass underpinning Dylan Rau’s unashamedly American vocals, suh-weeet guitars and a light smattering of Korg. The high-octane, up-tempo tracks are definitely Bear Hands’ strength, with frenetic ‘Vietnam’ guaranteed to move your ass and the sublime ‘What A Drag’ scoring an A+ on the Old Grey Whistle Test.
The Brooklyn foursome, who’ve been locked away in the studio recently, use tonight to showcase some of the newbies they’ve been laying down. In particular, the wonderfully lo-fi ‘Tablasaurus’ garners approving nods from the in-the-know crowd, so it looks like the forthcoming album could well be a blinder.
Words by Rachael Wright
Photos by Betsy Blundell
