The Bear Quartet - 89
(Adrian Recordings)

A new Bear Quartet album is always a big deal in these quarters and why should it not be? They have consistently proven themselves to perhaps be the greatest Swedish band of all-time. Constant re-invention, and, as justified with this decade's output, a move towards abstract. "89" finds The Bear Quartet delving into altermodern proto-metal, rhythmic and futuristic, a reminiscing of times lost to people, and peoples lost to time. Recently I revisited Fireside's "Elite", an aural documentation of societal ills in a world heading towards collapse. It dawned on me that "89" is its sequel--the post-collapse view of the plagues that brought down man. However, where it succeeds is to provide the starting point for lessons to prevent a dystopian cycle from forming. What The Bear Quartet have offered is much more than "music"; it's an oral history to be passed on, a way of life to be altered to prevent the hypothetical post-collapse in order for society to evolve.
- Matt Giordano