Volcano The Bear
Amidst The Noise And Twigs

Volcano The Bear is a band composed of Aaron Moore, Nick Mott, Daniel Padden (who alternate between percussion, wind instruments, vocals, and guitars) and Clarence Manuelo, who handles the electronic parts. This project originated in Leicester (England) in 1995.

Their musical style can be generally defined as Experimental Folk, a disciple of the sounds of the ingenious Comus, but with an attitude not far from that of the Residents. Another influence worth mentioning is certainly the more recent period of Current 93. Mentioning these names gives an idea of the kind of music they offer, a mixture of experiments based on Folk, alternating between moments that can be unsettling and others more "reassuring," with surrealism and avant-garde always present. Particularly noteworthy is the alternation of percussion with an electronic soundscape, sometimes accompanied by vocals and wind instruments. The tracks can lead to improvisations that create a sound chaos with a typically psychedelic flavor. "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" was produced in 2007; the translation of the title is "In the midst of noise and twigs," hinting at what the album evokes: one is immersed in an environment I would describe as "fairytale-like", a forest that fascinates for its immense landscape but can sometimes intimidate with the sound of some creature hidden among the bushes, an environment where the branches allow only partial sunlight to pass through.

The introduction of the album "The Sting Of Haste" is a short piece characterized by guitars with an apocalyptic stride. It then moves on to the most easily recognizable track of the album, "Before We Came To This Religion," one of the moments where the voice appears, a melody accompanied by wind instruments and percussion, followed by the short pieces "Larslovesnicks Farm" and "Burnt Seer." The subsequent tracks include the noise-heavy "Cassettes Of Berlin," the psychedelic "Splendid Goose" and "She Vang Moon," both characterized by the use of electronic experiments as a background accompanied by somewhat improvised percussion parts. The album closes with the two longer pieces, the surrealistic "One Hundred Years Of Infamy" with a sax accompaniment that, especially in the final part, echoes somewhat Canterbury-like sounds. The last track "The Three Twins" represents a long "march" of 10 minutes, initially accompanied by a rhythm dictated by the piano, then culminating in a martial percussion accompaniment that closes the album.

Despite the musical influences and the structures of the tracks, the album presents itself as coherent and successful. Therefore, I find the project Volcano The Bear very interesting for this blend of Folk and Avant-garde; in their discography, it's worth noting particularly their previous album, "Classic Erasmus Fusion."