Boy & Bear - Harlequin Dream [2013] [EAC,Log,Cue FLAC]

Artist: Boy & Bear
Release: Harlequin Dream
Released: 2013
Label: Nettwerk
Catalog#: CD 30989
Format: FLAC / Lossless / Log (100%) / Cue
Country: AUS
Style: pop,rock

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01. Southern Sun (4:41)
02. Old Town Blues (3:24)
03. Harlequin Dream (4:20)
04. Three Headed Woman (4:03)
05. Bridges (4:06)
06. A Moment's Grace (4:53)
07. End of the Line (3:47)
08. Back Down the Black (6:17)
09. Real Estate (2:57)
10. Stranger (4:58)
11. Arrow Flight (4:23)




In Australia, Boy & Bear are considered a homegrown Mumford and Sons for reasons that aren't immediately clear (their propensity for flat caps, maybe?). The more obvious touchstone, at least on their second album, which reached No 1 in Australia, is the California-dreaming stratum of 1970s rock. The opening trinity of Southern Sun, Old Town Blues and the title track, in fact, are clearly lost out-takes from Fleetwood Mac's eponymous 1975 album – or may as well be. That's how precisely they've nailed the tequila-sunrise mellowness, which acts as a gateway to an albumful of emollient soft rock. It's seductive stuff, pushing all the right wistfulness/optimism buttons and allowing the songs time to flow to a leisurely conclusion. One song ends in a brave skirl of Kenny G-style sax – that's how committed they are. Vocalist Dave Hosking is a moving purveyor of precarious emotional states – his bleakness on Bridges, a dream/nightmare memoir of their first American tour, is genuinely painful. End of the Line, by the way, dips a toe into folky diddlement you could call Mumfordian, but it's easy to skip....