CD Review: The Bunny The Bear – “The Way We Rust” (Needful Things Records)
After taking a slight left hand turn on 2015’s A Liar Wrote This, The Bunny The Bear are
up to their old tricks again on The Way
We Rust, their debut for Needful Things Records and first album since
leaving Victory Records, which introduces two very important elements – first, Joseph Garcia replaces Haley
Roback as The Bear (5.0), and perhaps more importantly, The Bunny, Matthew
Tybor is now sober, and we’re all better for it. All those If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say… feels come flooding back immediately
on “I Am Free,” introducing us to Tybor and Garcia’s palpable chemistry, while
“Andrea” is plain and simple vintage TBTB – Tybor handles the rough stuff while
Garcia paints the skies with lofty melodies, all underpinned with synth touches
and electronic flourishes. Tybor spits venom on instant classic “Love Lies,”
before Garcia takes flight on one of the album’s best hooks, the guys fall down
the rabbit hole (PUNS!) on the emotional “Second Hand Smoke,” which effectively
gives The Way We Rust an entirely new
look, the explosive “Bloody Lip” showcases what this band can be when The Bear
and The Bunny are firing on all cylinders and “Last Call (Interlude)” is a nice
shout to TBTB’s hometown of Buffalo (‘In my city the bars stay open ‘til 4am’)
before The Way We Rust enters the
stratosphere with the sprawling closer “Revisiting Romance,” which finds Tybor
screaming ‘I gave you all that I have’ over and over as the scene fades to
black. An argument can certainly be made for The Way We Rust as The Bunny The Bear’s best record to date, and if
it’s not, it’s certainly one of them.
Grade: B+
Go Download: “Love Lies”
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