Time for something consistently enjoyable but also completely at odds with expectation or the confines of genre. Solo project coke the bear presents a series of thoughtful contemplations and catchy hooks, throughout the emotionally loaded, genre-fusing and wildly engaging new album Snow Algebra.
What begins as an impassioned pop-punk lyrical outpouring and melody, soon weaves in a fairly intense electronic rhythm, and a clear sense of rising dance energy, as we move from changing story details to the simple repeat of a catchy hook.
coke the bear is quick to assert his creativity with this project, CAVI marking a fascinating opener, blending genres with fearless freedom, and presenting a thread of writing that’s both vulnerable and quirky as it rolls along.
We then move into a kind of lo-fi jazz-café mood, gentle keys and distant rhythms, reverb and warping, to prepare us for a more intimate emo vocal story and again long-form, almost rapped melody. Backview is heartfelt and well-written, with a boldly evocative core that connects for its realness and scorn united. A definite highlight and an impressive but non-intrusive earworm of a track.
After this we enter a dancehall afrobeat realm – another unprecedented twist, still with that pop-punk vocal rasp and character, now fusing languages to help reinforce the world-music groove at work, for Siempre Aqui. Then there’s an kind of ambient depth and emo nostalgia to the melodically alluring, slowly intensifying highlight LAAZY. coke the bear falls deeper still into the therapeutic process of songwriting that means something real, and the music backs up the mood presented by that.
SAN DIEGO is lyrically playful and heartfelt, an electro-pop soundscape opposing the freeform melodic shifts and the captivating scenes of the lyrics. Then for Glassine-Scene we enter an echoing chamber of reverb-soaked, impassioned vocals and near-falsetto switches in melody. This is followed by a grittier rap-like delivery, and another story that begs for you to come back and listen more than once or twice – to make sure you caught every idea and observation. This is true of the entire album, in fact, and is always a strong calling card for artists who want you to stream their music on repeat.
The title-track Snow Algebra wraps things up, poetic and unapologetic in its emotional depth and darkness. A beautiful closing track, blending guitars and electronic production subtly, whilst captivating for its nearly whispered yet impassioned and ever-evolving vocal outpouring. The song has a kind of multiple-personality energy to it, and that’s perhaps a key trait of the coke the bear sound. With some of these songs, just as we seem to get into something quite emotional or revealing, the artist almost instantly redirects us with a more simple metaphor or image or reflection.
It’s clever, actually, how the style reinforces the real-life dynamic of many modern conversations – those where you crave to build a connection but are thrown off by your own uncertainty and doubt. The depth is countered or balanced by the playfulness, and vice-versa, and that manages to intrigue throughout the Snow Algebra album.
This closing track, Snow Algebra, does however seem to conclude the ache and self-scorn of the project in a powerful way, and effectively leaves you keen to head back to the start of the playlist.
An interesting, thought-provoking, artistic and original style, from a songwriter and musician clearly carving out a lane of his own right now.
Find coke the bear on Instagram.
