Samey Folk Rock
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez is best known for his work in electro-pop group Cache Cache. For those who have followed his work, his new direction won't be such a complete shock, as he did play in country-folk group The Tall Grass which is a hint to the kind of soft, acoustic tunes that emerge on 'Why Is Bear Billowing?'
There are fables about "a lion with a lute" that buzz with pretty guitar melodies and an ode to a baker, "there is no bread better than the bread of a baker whose sadness has finally passed"; yes, it's a little off the wall, but thoroughly amiable. 'The Owl and The Pussycat' is a refreshing and dreamy melody with a wistful quality to its shuffling tune; it's a lullaby that any pussy would delight in.
'Pinecone Eyes' is a delicate tune with rippling guitar parts blossoming softly over each other, forming a tender, folk piece. The bumbling tune is a little soporific, a comment which could be made of the album as a whole, but if you listen in, you'll benefit from some sweet gems buried in the sweet songs. 'Little Island' is a gentle, uplifting tune with carefully plucked guitars that twinkle with delicacy and there some pretty tunes that form 'Why Is Bear Billowing?', but to the casual listener, they begin to sound slightly repetitive and more than a little similar and paying attention to individual tracks becomes rather taxing.
'Why Is Bear Billowing?' will not be finding its way back onto my stereo, more for the fact that it's simply unremarkable than because it's at all bad. The songs are sweet and pleasant enough, but those are simply vacuous adjectives covering for the fact that it simply doesn't inspire and would suit best as background music. Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez has produced finer work in his time, let's hope that he extols his folk demons here and moves onto something a little more exciting.