Album Review: China Bears - 'Participation Trophy'
Sunset quartet China Bears deliver souring debut album ‘Participation Trophy’.
The art of promoting an album becomes ever-so harder in an equally saturated market yearning for your mere attention. The drive of getting your much-loved projects to as many people as possible almost results in new creative ways for hitting that spot. If you found yourself in Heathrow Airport in the middle of June for your holidays, it may have been a surprise to hear and see a band doing just that.
Heathrow's hot spot of Terminal 5 became a swathe of lush acoustics on the 24th June for the start of three shows hosted by Sofar Sounds. China Bears began to set up shop and began lulling stressed-out passengers before their long-haul flights were set to take them around the world. Now, fast forward to two weeks, and we're here, in the eclipse of China Bears' debut, ‘Participation Trophy’.
Originally formed in Sunset by twin brothers Ivan on vocals and Frazer on guitar, China Bears are a fast-rising four-piece rising above it all with their rousing temperaments of melancholic alternative rock. ‘Participation Trophy’ is an emphatic amalgamation of everything that has come before and what China Bears are set to be. It's no wonder that the brotherly connection works so well, as we ride on one wave with Frazer's jangly guitar croons and we ride on another with Ivar's emotive lyrics painting personalised portraits.
While the album bursts in flurries of everything in-between, that drawling anthemic sad-indie is certainly their MO. ‘To Pull You Back’ is an subtle introduction into the acoustic hushes that are speckled throughout the 13-track record. ‘Easy Kill’ brings up a more soaring scale of a mountainside-high while ‘North Star’ is an telling tale of heartache moments. The four bring a more synergised burst of alternative rock electrics with ‘Total Communication Breakdown’ before we're met with sultry stand-out of ‘Gracie’. With the omnipresent threat of fear and doubt creeping in to our day-to-day, ‘Gracie’ is a beautiful token reminder that sometimes we need a friends perspective to pull us out of our own holes. Cinematic, wholly archaic and beautifully drawn together, ‘Participation Trophy’ is a swelling sunrise or a longing out of your window. It's moments of highs and lows keep you safely cocooned for one and faltering over a cliff edge the next. As the twinkling piano balladry brings the record to end, it's final words bring home a sobering truth: never doubt yourself.
Four-piece China Bears have been placed in similar circles to The National, Death Cub For Cutie and Frightened Rabbit and are set to embark on a sprawling UK tour in October. The tour will see them hit Oslo in London on the 10th, while the North gets to see them in Off the Square in Manchester on the 2nd.
Words by Alex Curle
