What does it sound like to be in love?

Gold-Bears formed in 2010 when Jeremy Underwood recruited a few  friends to play
songs he’d stockpiled since the demise of his former  band, Plastic Mastery (555
Recordings/Magic Marker Records). The band  quickly released a smashing 7″ on Magic
Marker Records, recalling the  immediacy and urgency of Boyracer or The Wedding
Present melding with  the pop sensibilities of Slumberland contemporaries like Summer
Cats and  The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They expanded their sound a bit on 
their next release (a 4-song 7″ on Miami-based indie pop imprint  Cloudberry Records)
by stripping away some of the fuzz on one song and  adding drone elements a la the
Microphones to another while still  maintaining their indie punk roots.

After hibernating in their home studio for the winter, Gold-Bears emerge with Are
You Falling In Love?,  an even further expansion of the band’s sound. This 11-song
collection  of frenzied crash pop, strummy ballads, and syncopated pop dirges is
one  of the most dynamic indie pop records of recent. In just over 33  minutes
Gold-Bears funnels jangly noise pop soundscapes through the  energy of Titus Andronicus’
punk anthems, and even manage to give us a  few reprieves for slower tunes that
showcase Underwood’s more sincere  vocals.

The album kicks off with “Record Store,” a song so full of  infectious spirit that
it seems like the rhythm section can hardly keep  up. “Record Store” segues seamlessly
into “All Those Years,” one of the  catchiest, poppiest songs in their repertoire.
From the initial “ba ba  bas” to the sugary sweet harmonies provided by Kristine
Capua (Very  Truly Yours) you instantly know that this song will never leave your
head. Smack dab in the middle of the album is the shoegazey “Are You  Falling in
Love?,” which bowls you over with a thumping bass line,  calculated drumming,  guitars
that sound like airplanes and bees and  lush violins. Toward the end of the album
we hear “Xmas Song,” a song  about the insecurities of love set to the tune of a
crash pop classic,  rife with feedback and fuzz that’ll fit nicely on your mixtape
following  This Poison! or Neutral Milk Hotel, depending on who you are trying to
impress.

The 11 songs on this album are brimming with gentle majesty and  fervent energy.
Whether you follow the stories in the lyrics of the  songs or bop around your room
to the jangly guitars, this album will  surely remain on your turntable for months.
Because after all, you have,  indeed, fallen in love… with Gold-Bears.