Album Review: Boy & Bear - Harlequin Dream

Boy & Bear have a style and they're sticking to it. That's not to say every song on Harlequin Dream sounds the same. It just means if you're not on board with the album in the opening bars, there's not much point ploughing ahead. The good news is, those opening bars make a great argument for delving deep into what's to follow.

Harlequin Dream is full of contradictions that almost always work in its favour. The title track somehow manages to be dreamy but driving at the same time. A Moment's Grace asks contemplative questions about mortality, while somehow not sounding nearly as pretentious as that description would have you believe. End Of The Lines almost sounds like Darren Hanlon at his most playful. While Back Down The Black, all subdued piano and restrained synth, is almost like a breather before launching into the (marginally) more up-tempo closing tracks. Songs like Arrow Flight, with its bouncing harpsichord and lyrics of “fleeting moments” and “basking in the autumn sun” make you feel like everything's going to be okay.

In a post-Mumford & Sons world, quiet, introspective folk music can be found lying under every vintage waistcoat and tin of moustache wax. But it takes more than just whacking in a banjo or mandolin to make this style work. It takes a kind of non-pretentious sincerity that Boy & Bear deliver in spades. Harlequin Dream perfectly combines the jaunty swagger of neo-folk with real emotion and a touch of bitter sweetness for an album of real substance.