Bear vs Shark

Open a song with a lyrical flow like “Complete the syntax rearrange my thought process in time every point will form a line prenatal cycle while you’re pushing the jack again,” as Michigan combo Bear vs Shark did on a track titled “We Were Sad but Now We’re Rebuilding,” and you run the risk of getting compared to Yes; one can almost hear Jon Anderson mouthing those words. And though the music Bear vs Shark makes can be sourced back to the expansive expressions of 1970s prog, it is remade and remodeled in the image of such sore-throated venting over squalls of controlled guitar noise as Jawbreaker. This fine album, which packs 12 songs into 40 minutes, runs the gamut from quiet, introspective observation (“MPS”) to noisy, wetly sung rants (“Don’t Tell the Horses the Stable’s on Fire”). Quite nifty.