Relase Date: September 9, 2022
Label: Fysisk Format (LP/Digital)
Retrofuturistic Double A-Single From Oslo Based Progressive/Artrock/Pop Gang INSOMNIAC BEARS Now Streaming; “Newfound Sprawl” Debut LP Set For Release September 9th Through FYSISK FORMAT. Listen To “1997”HERE and Jump to “Shaky Ladders” At This Location.
With members from Team Me, Rumble in Rhodos and Magnus Moriarty, we are proud to present the debut album from Norwegian retrofuturists Insomniac Bears.
On ”Newfound sprawl” the group’s edge bares signs of elegant vulnerability in their most expressive songwriting and expansive production yet. The album’s intimate origins – days on end spent in the studio during a pandemic winter – are reflected in its exploratory flourishes and heavy experiments. There are weightless falsetteos, restless guitar solos, and refrains that crash like tidal waves. Insomniac Bears never sacrifices a perfect pop hook for the sake of eccentricity.
The new album extends the voice of Insomniac Bears, only with a more hungry approach that shows a dynamic group drawing on each others respective pasts, but also on the new energy they discovered playing together. Their wide embrace of genre could feel like a tasty mash-up or a prosperous mix of indie styles. Yet with their distinctive and confident voice, it allows them to swoop through soundscapes light as air. With playful post harmonic vocal hooks and a distinctive nerve they will steal your heart with nostalgic hockey arena synthesizers, fiery indie guitars and explosive drums. The album features amazing guest appearances from dark wave queen Gunhild Ramsay Kovacs (Bow to Each Other/Susanne Sundfør) and rising star saxophonist Karl Hjalmar Nyberg.
New steps are also taken in the mix and master department, witch is gorgeously put together by master mind Javed Kurd. Insomniac Bears create a complex soundscape where the instrumentation repel each other with each element blooming and reducing like blobs of oil in water. The group venerates friendship, and on ”Newfound Sprawl” they lighten up and dig deeper. Their debut album is like a mixtape of ideas to inspire, enable and energize creativity and positivity in a time of uncertainty. At its best it feels limitless.
Insomniac Bears consists of multi-instrumentalist and producer Marius Ergo (Lukestar, Kaospilot & Snöras), Rumble in Rhodos-singer Thomas Bratlie Haugland, Team Me-frontman and songwriter
Marius Drogsås Hagen and songwriter/violinist Magnus Moriarty. They have also included star boy Axel Skalstad (Krokofant ++) on drums as a permanent member, giving the group a new dimension and sound. Sure enough, this combo of players have pushed each others explorations further than before, resulting in a new musical collective to look out for.
Insomniac Bears: Marius Ergo: Bass guitar, electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers, vocals; Magnus Gommerud Nielsen: Synthesizers, violins, bass, electric guitars, vocals; Marius Drogsås Hagen: Electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers, vocals; Axel Skalstad: Drums, percussion, synthesizers, saw, vocals; Thomas Bratlie Haugland: Vocals & percussion
Gunhild Ramsay Kovacs: Vocals on “Come up close”
Karl Hjalmar Nyberg: Saxophone on “Paper Crown”
Written, arranged and performed by Insomniac Bears
Produced and recorded at Ørevox by Marius Ergo
Drums recorded at Taakeheimen by Morten Øby
Additional recordings at Artilleriverkstedet lydstudio in Horten and Gymmen studios in Nordfjordeid
Mixed and mastered by Javed Kurd
“Break up the shapes” mixed by Nick Terry
Cover artwork by Tomas Del Balso
Design and art direction by Fredrik Melby
Photos by Anne Valeur
Tracklist
1. See You In Court
2. Come Up Close
3. 1997
4. Paper Crown
5. Shaky Ladder
6. JS Antibach
7. Mammoth
8. Break Up The Shapes
9. Burning
10. Haywire Heart
11. Homecoming
Insomniac Bears
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