aaamusic | On 01, Nov 2011

Formed in Gosport on the Southern English coast. Bear Cavalry aren’t easily pigeonholed. Between the four members they use at least seven different instruments to create a fusion of indie-rock, math, post-rock and world influences. Despite a myriad of off-kilter musical influences, the band still manage to pull off a smart pop sensibility that belies their tender years. Like Egyptian Hip-Hop, Tall Ships, Vampire Weekend and Everything Everything before them, the band combine genres both effortlessly and thrillingly to create enviably complex and accessible music.

The band has already had their music championed at Radio 1 by the likes of Edith Bowman and Kissy Sellout –the latter going as far as make his own Kissy Klub version of Custom Hands. They’ve also had support from Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw as well as being played countless times by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music. Not bad for music that was self-recorded in a soundproofed barn in a back garden.

Kissy is not the only famous DJ to use their music. Dubstep/complextro prodigy Skrillex liked the bands’ unlikely acoustic cover of his song ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’ so much that he used it as part of one his own behind the scenes videos – gaining over 370,000 views on YouTube in the process. The EP’s lead track, “Roman Summer”, has also appeared on a BSM compilation and is as good a lead single as any you’re likely to hear this year. A nagging refrain the final reward in a song full of them.

Elsewhere the EP continues in a similarly progressive fashion – Custom Hands’ playful use of horns, Will Smith Solves The Rubik’s Cube coining both an awesome song title and some tricky guitar interplay, while the ambitious Dragon’s Milk Pt II sprawls in the very best sense of the word.

Young, freakishly talented and also an act who can absolutely pull it off live, we’d call this a very strong start indeed.