"Your friends don't know what you go through," sings Jon Philpot in the opening lines to "Sinful Nature," the brand new single from Bear In Heaven's I Love You, It's Cool, out April 3. "Surrender your self-control ... Are you hiding your sinful nature?"
LANGUAGE ADVISORY: This song contains an instance of profanity.
Bear in Heaven likes drone (you can still listen to the experimental stream of the new album, slowed down so extremely that a single play lasts 2,700 hours, at the band's website), and the songs on I Love You, It's Cool are full of sounds that call to mind a dance party heard through a neighbor's wall — buzzy and hazy and romantic for being a little distant. But given the lyrics here, and the song on an earlier album titled "Lovesick Teenagers," it's clear there's a vein of melodramatic angst running through Bear in Heaven's songs as well.
Philpot sings directly rather than letting the atmospherics mask his intent. When he sings, "You don't deny me your sinful nature," it sounds like a seduction cut with menace.
That might be the intent. In an email, Philpot explains the song's perspective:
"'Sinful Nature' is an ode to all the shy girls out there. Don't restrain your inner freak. You could change the world if you just let yourself. It's also an inner dialogue between my responsible and not-responsible self."
I Love You, It's Cool will be out April 3 on Dead Oceans/Hometapes, but you can pre-order the album now, and download an MP3 of 'Sinful Nature' via SoundCloud.
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