Agora

We say

Indie hit ahoy: the debut single from Brooklyn four-piece Bear Hands feels like an alternative smash. Featured as a Next Hype by Zane Lowe last night with Xfm immediately following, Agora teeters schizophrenically between a colossal opening riff with a barked Modest Mouse-y vocal, and spacier moments of MGMT-esque psychedelia, like a student psyching himself up for getting up off the sofa and then giving up again. That's not accidental; Agora addresses singer Dylan Rau's troubles dealing with agoraphobia and leaving the house. The MGMT likeness may not be accidental either; in the US Bear Hands are signed to Cantora, the label founded by MGMT's Goldwasser and VanWyngarden, who also happen to be fellow Wesleyan University alumni of core Bear Hands members Rau and Ted Feldman. Debut album Distraction, self-funded and self-produced, is due in the summer, while the band are in the UK for two shows and an Xfm session in March. Watch out for the video, directed by Feldman himself, which is being premiered by NME today.

London gigs: Madame Jo Jo's, March 26 / Koko, March 28 (Club NME)

Contact

Label: Alex Burford, Warner Bros.
Radio: Jane Arthy, Warner Bros.
Online: Thomas Jones, Warner Bros.
Press: Hayley Connelly, Little Press
TV: Tom Dark, Warner Bros.
Live: Emma Banks, CAA
Management: Tara Richardson, Q Prime