BOY & Bear

Jon

WORDS BY BENJAMIN LAMB

Boy & Bear are arguably one of Australia’s most recognised groups, their music has been heard across the globe, and many fans have found solace in their unique blends of rock and folk. Their original works have seen much critical acclaim, including APRA Awards, ARIA Awards, and even the Australian Music Prize.

Now the band are back with a bang, dropping their self-titled fifth record. We met with keyboardist/songwriter Jon Hart to discuss it all.

The band’s fifth self-titled album arrives following a jubilant return to music in 2022, with its previous singles ‘State Of Flight’, ‘Just To Be Kind’, ‘State of Mind’ and ‘Apex’ receiving widespread global press adoration.

Released on 26 May, the band celebrated the album with some launch events across the country, where the band could connect with fans unlike they ever have before.

“We haven’t done it on that scale before,” Hart says. “We did events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, getting out and seeing people, talking to them and playing the songs, it was really satisfying to hear people relating to the songs.

“We’re not expecting everyone to get it straight away; some people are going to wish we’re making stuff as we did back in like Harlequin Dream or in Moonfire days, but some people are kind of excited about where we’re going as well.”

This album marks the first time the group took on production duties; a world that allowed songs to take on a new life and see the band work in a new way.

“There was some great stuff to self-producing. In the past, when you’re working with someone else, you’ve hired that person to be a little bit of an objective voice in the room. I’m not suggesting that producers are always objective because they also get emotionally attached to their ideas.

“But I think that it was really cool [to self-produce], because we do have those skills to be able to do it, and it was satisfying to be able to take the song in the direction the five of us felt and push it as far as we could because weren’t trying to please anybody else.”

In a surprising move, the group decided to self-title this record, a decision due to the band taking on much more with this body of work. This also marked the first record that the band dropped independently.

“There were a few things: us self-producing it, we also decided to go independent on the label front this time, because since our first EP, basically we’ve had record labels in Australia and overseas, and all those deals came up at the same time.

“We thought, ‘Now we want to do this, we want to give this a go ourselves’. Now, we’ve been doing it for a while, and we’ve got a really good team around us, we were intrigued to see what was possible. The other element was we couldn’t agree on an album title,” Hart adds with a laugh.

Boy & Bear is full of the stylings we’ve come to love from the group, but with interesting and fresh flavours and moments that cement the band as one of the most original out there. Hart dives into some new bands that were staples of playlists during the writing and recording process.

“A few of us got into Big Red Machine That was a cool record; I was listening to that a year ago. Then there was an album by Future Islands, and that was a cool record, with interesting production and great songs. And then I was just listening to a bunch of ambient stuff.”

Boy & Bear also have a regional tour on the cards, hitting some corners of the country that don’t get a lot of live shows, including Castlemaine, Traralgon, Frankston, Torquay and Albury. Hart dives into what it’s like to play shows in these spaces.

“I think it definitely brings a different energy. When you’re the show that’s on in town that weekend, you get a different mix of people than if you play in a capital city; people who come and watch you are fans, whereas in a regional spot, you’re more likely to get all kinds of people - who have maybe heard of you but maybe notall listen and there’s a certain special thing to that.

“I think there’s an excitement that you’re trying to win people over, but I also like the nature of regional touring; flying somewhere and then you drive around a bit and get to see some of where you are.”