On the heels of their critically acclaimed 2009 album Beast Rest Forth Mouth, Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven returned to Chicago Thursday night for the final stop of a three-month tour to support Canadian indie superstars Metric at The Vic. The propulsive 45-minute set covered most of Beast Rest and was dotted with material from the group’s 2007 debut LP Red Bloom of the Boom.
The band quickly caught and held the attention of the sold-out theatre with a cavernous sound that suited the venue and belied the group’s small lineup (usually featuring four members, Bear in Heaven played on this night as a trio) and spare instrumentation. Bandleader and sometime guitarist John Philpot anchored the sound with a strong tenor reminiscent at times of Perry Farrell, My Bloody Valentine’s Bilinda Butcher, and even, oddly, REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin. Philpot also provided the band’s signature electronic texture with keyboards and programming effects that featured prominently in all of the band’s songs.
Highlights of the set included Beast Rest standout “You Do You,” which alternated a sinister synthesizer line with pounding drums provided by Joe Stickney and a minimal vocal melody by Philpot. The atmospheric, usually understated “Lovesick Teenagers” took on a new, muscular quality in a live setting, Philpot howling the chorus as guitarist Adam Wills and a wash of synthesizers created a wall of white noise that filled the venue. The set’s cathartic peak came with the droning, hypnotic “Dust Cloud,” Wills adding shimmering layers to a skeletal song framework that saw Philpot’s voice interacting with Stickney as an additional component of the rhythm.
As the set went on, the venue filled and devotees of Metric (and of their iconoclastic frontwoman Emily Haines) moved closer to the stage to have a better vantage point from which to see and hear Bear in Heaven. Upon remarking that the place was filling rapidly, Philpot said simply, “that’s really good.” It was.
Bear in Heaven returns to Chicago in July for a featured slot at the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park. More information about the band can be found at http://www.bearinheaven.com or at the band’s official Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/bearinheaven .
