Solar Bears are a colourful pair – a statement clearly backed up by the vivid cover to ‘Advancement’, their first album on their new home Sunday Best. The label is a natural fit for their music, which shows a winning combination of attention to detail and expansive textures that sound lovely on headphones. Solar Bears do enjoy exploring the darker side on ‘Vanishing Downstream’, while on the lighter side is the extremely restful ‘Persona’. The influence of Krautrock is never far from the surface of their music, but then neither is the lovely whoosh that makes textures in cosmic disco music so enjoyable. Here they show they can blend those influences successfully, with the slower ‘Longer Life’ showing really impressive depth, and the rolling drums of ‘Man Plus’ showing how they can do effortless, slightly off kilter beat music that will stand out from the crowd. Every bit as good as their material on Planet Mu.
4 out of 5
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
http://soundcloud.com/solar_bears/gravity-calling
