wojtek the bear: shaking hands with the NME
Vinyl / CD / Download / Streaming
Out 12th April
Glasgow’s wojtek the bear release their highly anticipated third album shaking hands with the NME on 12 April.
The band who offer ‘smart casual indie-pop’ may not be a new name to LTW readers, however it’s been a couple of years since their last album, Heaven By The Back Door. Just as an introduction, wojtek the bear (always lower case, a purely aesthetic choice) formed in 2016 and released their debut, a talent for being unreasonable in 2018, followed by the aformentioned Heaven By The Back Door in 2021. The 5-piece, made up of vocalist Tam, guitarist Graham, bassist Paul Kirkwood, Becky on strings and drummer Scott are now back with their 3rd album recorded, with legendary producer Stephen Street, across two weeks in the summer of 2023 at Chem19 studios in Glasgow.
Shaking Hands With The NME feels a little paired back in comparison to the previous releases, songwriter Tam explaining they simplified the process; “I think like most people creating any sort of art we can be prone to overcomplicating things, so when approaching the writing and recording for this record we tried to really rein in that impulse.” The result is stripped back at times but gorgeous, thoughtful and assured; “Stephen was great at nurturing that side of us too – he gave us the confidence to know that often the simplest things are the best.”
Naturally there is a very Caledonian feel to the album, not just vocally. There is a complexity and depth to the 10 tracks across the album, which at times offer similarities to artists from Aztec Camera to BMX Bandits and The Orchid to Blue Rose Code. I guess it must be something in the air.
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The album includes three recent singles. Second Place On Purpose, written by Tam after his son was born, “It’s essentially about the realisation that, for the first time in your life, you’ll instinctively put someone else’s needs first”. The next, Slowly, Then All At Once Looks at “mistrustful people, and how their deceit – intentional or otherwise – can lead us down unexpected rabbit holes of self-reflection and self-discovery,” whilst Fireworks Out Of Focus, the most ‘upbeat’ reflects on growing up with somebody and sharing those intimate moments that only two best pals can share.
Whilst these have been released as singles that’s not to say they are the ‘standouts’, the album is very much the sum of it’s parts and is consistent throughout, there’s certainly no filler on show here, the lucious A Sunday Without Fear and the potentually libellous title track, which I still can’t figure if it’s tongue in cheek or a love letter to the 1990’s are equally both high points.
I’ve been listening to the album over the last few weeks, and whilst it wasn’t ‘instant’ for me, Shaking Hands With The NME is often a very subtle album which revealed itself over a number of plays with something new to discover on each occasion. A slow burner but one that offers great reward.
You can catch the band at a special headline gig on 13th April at the Glasgow University Union where wojtek the bear will play with BMX Bandits and special guest Annie Booth. Tickets available here
wojtek the bear’s linktree is here
All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey
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