Jamie Waggett, from Strout, UK, is playing into some serious noisy, post-punk, screamo-hardcore, crust and even worse bands. Sometimes he seems to also record experimental ambient stuff.
I could never, never, really never ever could imagine he was also behind such a project like Moon Bear. Moon Bear reminds me of the most intimate side of projects such as Songs of Green Pheasant, Hood and Chuzzlewit, featuring the type of sweetness you would expect on records by Brian, or Brighter / Harper Lee, and the delicious warm melancholy of songwriters such as Talons', Owen or Vio/Miré.
Five songs for not even 10 minutes, all of them between 1:46 and 2:09, with a guitar, some reverb and whispered soft intimate vocals.
Just a few seconds inside "Stammer" and I was already under the charm, delicate, soft, precious and melancholic like rainy days after the sun, it could have been a lost song of Brian. On "Carried", the influence of Elliott Smith is easy to perceive. Third song, played on an ukulele, "Chewed" follows another direction, and the divergence between the playful sounds and the depressed vocals is just exhilarating.
The beauty and simplicity of "Shelter" just leaves me speechless, priceless. The last song, "Brailler" ends up the EP with a nostalgic touch.
Even if these songs are closer to sketches than totally developed songcraft, the discovery of this EP is a huge and deep joy, and I hope it won't be too long before Jamie decides to record another collection and starts to invest most time and attention to this truly special and precious project.
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