A collaborative effort with Raf Daddy of the notorious Greco-Roman Soundsystem collective, opener The Birds & The Bees embodies just that as loopy bubbles of synth redolent of Orbital's Belfast encounter funk-stricken guitars and light washes of tropicalia as delectably synthetic as cartoned Um Bongo. It's the sort of subtle euphoria you could only dream of pouring down your ears as you singe your pasty skin to a crisp on some remote Hawaiian hideaway. That it gently subsides to leave the melody from the Teddy Bears' Picnic in its wake only enhances its charm. However by contrast, the segueing title-track serves as an abrasive awakening from momentary bliss as if the aforementioned cancer-beckoning sun bathe were abruptly curtailed by coconut-contained piña colada slipping from grasp and skidding across lightly sizzled skin: atop an unremarkable house beat bolstered by the odd bongo interlude, it's a Greco-Roman-edged rework of Mylo's name-dropping, whopping Destroy Rock & Roll for 2k12, an empowering sermon urging the listener to continue to indulge in whichever music it is that reenforces their existence. However that this motivational speech is in the resonant ilk of the Reverend Jon McClure and that Hot Chip are effectively self-referenced (2:25) compromises the sonic mélange a little.
Be Strong sweeps into the cheap thud of the vocally maimed Bear Hug, gruff and bassy musings colliding messily with fidgety samples repetitiously providing largely extraneously "uh huhs". Then something happens that humanises the relentless house; that incurs a feeling warmer and fuzzier than any stuffed ursine article affiliated with childhood: the woolly voice of the ever-unshaven Goddard emerges from the overpopulated woodland of sample and pounding synth. It soon retreats, returning to hibernation yet swiftly reappears for the nicely naff disco leanings of Work. Like I Feel Better hauled back in time by sharpened claw on padded paw to the sound of Hot Chip circa 2006, appropriately, it contains a hook hefty enough to beach the mythical Kraken. Lyrically, that it ends with what sounds like the wry voice of fear itself stating: "I went from listening to Throbbing Gristle's Hamburger Lady to dancing to Josephine by Chris Rea. That shows you how dangerous that drug can be" elucidates where the track originated from and which precise realm of ecstasy it's intent on taking you in just 26 words. More likely still to evoke frenzied jiving however is Warm & Easy, a shimmering Neon Neon-esque disco smash with a devastating undercurrent of turgid bass.
Merits notwithstanding, Be Strong is all too often guilty of overpoweringly emulating the feel of a mixtape for even when one track meanders naturally into another there's a disjointedness that disappoints. However from here on in it really begins to maul itself, Take A Look Around sounding like Seal interpreting Moby at his most insufferable while Time In Mind, a real trough of the record filled with lad rock fodder, is a little like the tragically deceased Ian Dury inexplicably and unnecessarily reimagining the Sherman Brothers' soundtracking of The Jungle Book. The introspective windowgaze wallow of Faith meanwhile is excessively lucid and would work wonders were it not smeared in screams of Cockney dissent. McClure today avowed: 'Truth be said I fancied a bit of time out the bear-pit for half an hour to get myself a bit of a holiday, and well, calm the fuck down n enjoy myself a bit.' Perhaps The 2 Bears too would be better clambering out of the pit, or at least crawling back to the day jobs for these woods be filled with dubious surprises.
