Hear Minus the Bear’s Surging Song ‘Viaduct’
Seattle indie rock group Minus the Bear have unveiled new song “Viaduct.” The track appears on their forthcoming final EP, Fair Enough, which will be released on October 19th via Suicide Squeeze.
“Remember the night when we became one?” Jake Snider sings over surging melodies. “Oh, it’s a long time ago.” The wistful sentiment continues as he sings, “Can’t we fall back in love like we did before?”
Along with the release of their new reflective single, Minus the Bear announced a charity auction that will benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit that provides support for musicians in need of medical, personal and financial assistance. The group is currently auctioning the first in a series of four original paintings from bassist Cory Murchy, who created the Fair Enough cover art. Murchy benefited from the organization’s aid when he was struggling with a chronic back injury.
“It was important for me to create a cover relevant to the band and our history, as well as something strong enough to stand on its own artistic merit. The picture we used for our first EP was a blurry photo of the band walking through the forest. We were grainy and not so well defined, monochromatic, youthful,” Murchy said in a statement. “This painting is a response to those same young men and the 17 year-long journey they took together.
“The human figures, now much more defined, have been replaced by shapes that are now finding their own colors to live in. Much less unified but still working within each other’s orbit,” he continued. “The wonder of the woods has been replaced with a milled piece of working lumber. It’s a representation of who we’ve become as individuals and I think it reflects the music in a lot of the same ways. Distilled by time and purpose.”
In July, the band announced that they would split after 17 years following a farewell tour this fall, which launches next month. It kicks off on October 9th at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, Tennessee and wraps with three sold-out shows in their hometown of Seattle, December 14th through 16th, at The Showbox.