Album Review: The Bunny The Bear - If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…

Akin in many ways to fellow kitchen-sink-core merchants Iwrestledabearonce and Arsonists Get All the Girls, Buffalo, NY’s the Bunny the Bear’s bombastic debut, ‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…,’ is a literal sonic potpourri, drippings with bits and pieces from most every genre the band could get their paws (pun fully intended) on. It basically the scene tossed into a blender. And to complete the gimmick, one singer wears a bunny mask and, ironically, screams while another singer sports a bear mask and sings the albums clean parts. There, now you’re up to speed.

‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…’ is an interesting animal, quite literally. The Bunny the Bear embraces all things experimental with quite the aplomb, though from song to song the aural mad scientist concoction doesn’t always hold water. When the Bunny the Bear are on, they are as cutting and methodically precise as a ninja (‘Aisle,’ ‘Ocean Floor’), but when they are off, ‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…’ comes off sounding like a garbled hot mess (‘Ces’t Pas Si Lion,’ ‘Alley’). The interestingly titled ‘It’s a Long Way from the Esophagus to the Ovaries’ is a solid track that should have you dancing as it borrows bits and pieces from Breathe Carolina’s playbook, while ‘396.17’ should effectively catch you off guard with its lovely, subtle grooves and overt balladeering.

Regardless of what side of the fence you happen to find yourself on when it comes to ‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…,’ the Bunny the Bear’s technical prowess is hard to deny, and though there are those who are quick to call shenanigans on the bands seemingly blatant gimmickry, you have to admit that some of this stuff is pretty cool.

2.5/5

‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…’ is out now on Victory Records.

Brian Campbell