Who wants to be sad forever? While most screamo bands wallow in their sadness and hide beneath the stairs in a gutter of sorrow, Tunes For Bears To Dance To drop kicks any tear in sight and bursts through the fog into sunshine. Not only do they absorb the Vitamin D from the sun's rays, but they suck it in with the utmost intensity. This is the kind of rock music that is great to listen to when you're in a bad mood. Crank up the speakers, lower the shades! The bedroom mosh will commence in-5-4-3-2-1-GO!
From their music alone, I imagine their live show being similar to xBxRx, with the band jumping around, firecrackers blazing, balloons soaring, and the audience feeling the vibes. It's awesome how a band through the speakers can transfer such visceral images as these, this could be blamed on the fact that they recorded in a bedroom. I'm gonna make a prophecy; thirty two times during the recording the singers jumped on the bed. Yeah that's right, I said singers, as in plural, as in two singers at the same time. These wretched bros are definitely screaming, but it sounds so enthusiastic that it brings a smile even to the kid in the corner with a dunce cap on.
What's also critically crucial is the fact that this is only their second release, and they're already showing progress. One of the most noticeable things was the lyrical change they went through. Their debut eight song CD was sillier in nature, songs about fish and the eternal question: where is Waldo? And to be honest, that is a very insightful question. This album focuses on more serious subjects, while still maintaining that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The first song, "The Same Dream," deals with the falseness of the "American dream," how friendship can make a shitty reality get flushed into a clean reality. It's also cool how they go into larger deep thoughts but still stay grounded. For example, "sometimes we should do what we want in life and not what is forced upon us to do/and sometimes we should sit back and appreciate our friends." Out of context some of their lines might sound cheesy, but with the overall picture they develop, it works. The second song, "Be Kind And Rewind," deals with the killing and slavery of animals, a subject that has been done many times in punk/hardcore/screamo/etc. But due to TFBTDT's style, instead of sounding forced and preachy, it sounds like a friend giving you advice. "Puddles Dot Dot Dot" deals with subject matter similar to the first, but this instead of focusing on the falsehoods of life, there is a look on the mundaness of life. Kind of like when it rains things can seem dreary, but you can still jump into the puddles and have fun. Friendship is brought up again in this, making a life of working worth it to hear an "I love you" from a loved one.
While there is a definite lyrical evolution, the music too takes a step up a mutated latter. The previous album's songs were really straight forward, but now they've realized how to maintain that linear-rock-in-your-face feel while still wandering about. This is nice, because at times the earlier stuff continuously drives into your skull creating what is commonly referred to as "headache." It'd be a good idea to continue following this band as they develop into something very noteworthy. On that note, it should be noted that this album is limited to only 500 copies, so act quickly before the inventory runs clean!
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