Wojtek The Bear - Heaven By The Back Door
How many bands can you name that are strongly associated with Glasgow? Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, The Blue Nile, Errors, Franz Ferdinand...the list goes on doesn’t it? Well after the release of their latest album Wojtek The Bear are going to be riding high on that list.
Recorded in parts across 2020 with producer Jamie Savage in Chemikal Underground’s Chem19 Studios, Heaven By The Back Door finds the band in shimmering, sensational form.
An album of love, life and regret, these ten songs elicit a whole range of emotions. Packing Parachutes is incredibly emotive, so much so that it wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mica Levi score. The Tide That Won’t Come Back has harmonies that Teenage Fanclub would kill for (I say kill, they are lovely gents, you know what I mean)
Not only are lead singer Tam Killean’s vocals on this album are glorious, his lyrics soar too. There’s fragile beauty in songs like Paper Talk and the title track. The band have clearly honed their sound, it is a record that lives in Detroit, in 70′s Northern soul, in Motown. It lives in 80s Style Council pop. It also lives in harmony with a world currently fractured but still beautiful ‘ They say that everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face’ rings so true on Ferme La Bouche.
And one things for certain, this album will be living in your heart and your soul. See that list of bands associated with Glasgow? Well Wojtek The Bear are one of the greatest, their time is now.
Heaven By The Back Door is out now on Last Night From Glasgow.
