''Fake Tunes'' is the fourth studio album by American experimental rock band,

Bear Hands Bear Hands is an American post-punk and indie rock band, consisting of Dylan Rau (vocals and guitar), Val Loper (bass), and TJ Orscher (drums). Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, United States, and formed in 2006, with Ted Feldman (guitar) the ban ...

. The album was released on May 10, 2019, through Spensive Sounds.

Release and promotion

Two weeks after the release of ''Fake Tunes'', Bear Hands opened for

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...

during the second North American leg of

The Bandito Tour The Bandito Tour (stylized as THE BANDITØ TØUR) is the sixth concert tour by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, in support of their fifth studio album ''Trench'' (2018). The tour began at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee o ...

. Bear Hands opened for Twenty One Pilots from May 12 to June 30, 2019. From October 8 to November 29, 2019, Bear Hands will co-headline with

X Ambassadors X Ambassadors (also stylized XA) are an American pop rock band from Ithaca, New York, that consists of lead vocalist Sam Harris, keyboardist Casey Harris, and drummer Adam Levin. Russ Flynn is a touring member who plays guitar and bass. Their m ...

in promotion of the album.

Singles

The first single, "Back Seat Driver (Spirit Guide)", was released on April 5, 2018. The single was the highest charting and highest streaming single on the album, reaching number 21 on the Alternative Songs charts, specifically peaking at that place on June 9, 2018. The second single, " Blue Lips" featuring backing vocals from Ursula Rose, was released on January 3, 2019. The single peaked at number 32 on the ''Billboard''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

charts during the week of March 23, 2019. The single was well received critically and described as having a range of influences in sound and style, ranging from

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...

, and

jangle pop Jangle pop is a Music subgenre, subgenre of pop rock and college rock that emphasizes jangle, jangly guitars and 1960s-style pop music, pop melodies. The "jangly" guitar sound is characterized by its clean, shimmering and Arpeggio, arpeggiated ...

Critical reception

Writing for ''QRO Magazine'', Ted Chase described that the album has the capability of being a major hit saying "perhaps they're too artistic to be as big as the likes of

(who they recently toured with), and too tough to pin down, genre-wise. But that's because they actually successfully mix their influences into something special." Chase gave the album an 8 out of 10. Andrew Duncan, writing for ''Selective Memory'' magazine offered a more mixed review of ''Fake Tunes''. Duncan said that the album sees Bear Hands "caught between a rock and a hard place. Too young to slow down but too adult to be reckless, that is the underlying presence within the songwriting of Fake Tunes. Bear Hands have always been an intriguing fixture in the indie rock world, yet ''Fake Tunes'' is a crossroads." Duncan gave ''Fake Tunes'' three stars out of five

Track listing

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2019 albums Bear Hands albums