BEAR HANDS Release New Single 'Adderall / Ambien'
The single is now available for streaming.
By: Blair Ingenthron Aug. 18, 2024
Post-punk electro band Bear Hands have announced the October 18 release of a new album, The Key to What via their long-time home, Cantora Records. The album, their first in almost five years, is filled with the danceable beats and earworm hooks that the band is known for. Across the LP’s 10 tracks they explore themes of survival, escapism, and, true to their style, finding humor even "when it hurts." They now further tease The Key To What with new single “Adderall / Ambien.” The band’s frontman Dylan Rau says, “this song chronicles a personal history with drugs and includes a discussion of which ones will ruin your life and which ones will make life worth living,” further noting, “Your mileage may vary!"
Bear Hands shot a video for the song which was initially conceived of as a more malevolent sequel of their’ 2014 “Agora” video. Drawing on a long-dormant film school education, it was directed by Rau with help from the band’s old friend and noted photographer Christopher Saunders and producer partner Ursula Strauss. They also won over 75 dollars on scratch-off lotto tickets during the experience thereby defraying the cost of production considerably. Rau says “the visuals for ‘Adderall / Ambien’ paint a portrait of life in the grip of addiction and isolation whilst also having a pretty good time.” Listen to “Adderall / Ambien” here and watch the clip here:
Presave The Key To What here.
The band previously shared “Intrusive Thoughts,” and more recently “Floor It” which Flood Magazine called “a buoyant synth-pop number full of sugary-sweet melodies and crunching drums that give the song a punch.”
This fall Bear Hands will play songs off The Key to What alongside fan favorites on their “Distraction 10” tour (celebrating a decade since the release of their acclaimed sophomore album Distraction) The dates kick off on October 27 in Hartford, CT, and concluding in Seattle, WA, on November 17. The tour makes stops in Brooklyn, NY, for a show at Music Hall Of Williamsburg on November 1 and at the Teragram in Los Angeles, CA on November 12. All dates are listed below, and tickets are on-sale now.
After moving to a tiny town on the Oregon coast in 2019, the band’s singer/songwriter Dylan Rau made an attempt to take a step back from music, spending his time “chopping some wood and learning how to use power tools.” But it turned out he was better at writing songs. New tracks were shaped remotely over the following few years between band members (bassist Val Loper and drummer TJ Orscher) on opposite coasts. The band eventually found themselves back together in Cherry Hill, NJ, with producer and touring guitarist Alex M before the finishing touches were put on by co-producers Elliott Kozel (Yves Tumor, SZA, Lizzo) and Caleb Wright (Samia, Charly Bliss).
Bear Hands' fifth LP The Key to What ain't no act of desperation! They didn't have to make another record. You didn't ask for one. However, after moving to a tiny town on the Oregon coast in 2019, singer/songwriter Dylan Rau didn't have much else to do. He chopped some wood and learned how to use power tools, but these proved to be passing fancies, the adopted passions of a five-year LARP as a different person.
I don't really know how to stop writing songs. Even if no one is listening or we have no team or infrastructure supporting us, I like to think we'd be like those graffiti artists who paint in the subway tunnels where no one will ever see it.
Narcotics Anonymous tells us, "To thine own self be true." But they also tell you pure virginal abstinence is the only way to live. Neither of these dictums helped Rau find meaning or purpose during his extended exile in ruraldom. On the plus side, he wrote a couple of songs, some of which turned out pretty good, some tickling the underside of transcendence.
The record is mostly about trying to keep it together when it's already fallen apart, learning skills that no longer have any applications today and true and total pointlessness. Kinda like singing into the void to see if we hear anything back, but your headphones no longer connect because the void updated it's hardware and doesn't have an aux jack anymore.
Fueled by generic pharmaceuticals and a persistent fear of irrelevance, the band (Rau, bassist Val Loper, and drummer TJ Orscher) convened at a small home studio in Cherry Hill, NJ, to do some real-life recording. New creative collaborator and touring guitarist Alex Marans produced the sessions, wrote some guitar leads, and prepared elaborate breakfast scrambles on most mornings. Everything was floated on the band's long-suffering American Express Business card.
This album was a heavy ass lift and took forever to get done. Some of the songs are five years old and have changed a lot since inception. Being the only person on the West Coast meant we had to work through email or have intensive face-to-face sessions when I would go to Philly for a week or whatever. That kind of time sensitivity can make things kind of volatile emotionally.
In suburban South Jersey, songs like the euro-deranged "Intrusive Thoughts" and the imminently pre-viral "Mosquito Song" cozied up against highway anthems "Floor It" and "Car Wreck" (featuring guest vocals from lifelong friend and post-punk cult hero Dan Barrett of Have a Nice Life). A depressive episode was monetized in the three-minute epic "Dialtone." The banality of modern life was trudged through in hyper-realistic electro slogs "Adderall / Ambien" and "Scam Likely."
If you just get a little something done on most days, you’ll eventually reach the finish line. Maybe. Or at least we did.
About Bear Hands
Bear Hands is Dylan Rau (vocals and guitar), Val Loper (bass), and TJ Orscher (drums). Forming in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York the band gained early attention with their 2010 single "What a Drag," which led to their signing with Cantora Records. They released their debut album Burning Bush Supper Club that same year, followed by the critically acclaimed Distraction, which reached #23 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers” chart. Two additional albums followed - 2016’s You’ll Pay For This and 2019’s Fake Tunes.
Bear Hands tour dates
10/27 - New Park - West Hartford, CT
10/29 - Underground Arts - Philadelphia, PA
10/30 - Union Stage - Washington, DC
11/1 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
11/2 - Middle East - Cambridge, MA
11/4 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON
11/5 - Blind Pig - Ann Arbor, MI
11/6 - Outset - Chicago, IL
11/7 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN
11/9 - Meow Wolf - Denver, CO
11/11 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ
11/12 - Teragram - Los Angeles, CA
11/13 - Cornerstone - Berkeley, CA
11/15 - Alladin Theatre - Portland, OR
11/16 - Neumos - Seattle, WA
The Key to What tracklisting
1. Floor It
2. Intrusive Thoughts
3. Mosquito Song
4. Dialtone
5. Adderall / Ambien
6. Hung Up On Me
7. Flying Scimitar
8. Car Wreck (Feat. Have a Nice Life)
9. Scam Likely
10. Moonwalking on Eggshells
Find Bear Hands here
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