A jangly fusion of indie, folk and chamber pop makes for a mystical and cathartic experience, overflowing with dreamy melodies, gently cooed harmonies and real warmth.

Lyrics:
Be prepared – sound advice for a life under canvas. 
A twee round green cap, golden thread upon our heads, sixer-led. 
They told us in limited light, don’t focus on an object. 
Look over to the right. 
Recently, this technique has achieved something more. I’ve seen out of my
periphery, something less and less obscure. 
Remember in limited light, don’t focus on an object. Look over to the right. 
The crab football fades and the endless knots, but some lessons stay locked up in a box. Until we find a use for them.
We were prepared to persist with our after-school pursuit.
They told us in limited light, don’t focus on an object. Look over to the right.

Fiction

Be Prepared

Straw Bear formed slowly over a number of years, like sedimentary rock or a bad habit.

They took their name from the Whittlesey Straw Bear festival, the first event in the pagan calendar (available at all good newsagents).

Ian and Chris began recording in their native Cambridgeshire, before Tom, Pas and Cate were sucked into their swirling musical eddy.

But just as they had a full complement, the same violent forces of nature that brought them together rent them asunder and each found themselves flung to different parts of south-east England.

This hasn’t stopped them working on their second album. Black Bank is named after the Fenland road in which the album was recorded.

Straw Bear are immensely proud of the 12 songs that make up the record. Produced with the unwavering support of Chris Taylor of The Bays at his Blue Barn Studio, Black Bank is a more complex, nuanced album than their first.

Straw Bear

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