Firewood // The Bear Romantic

If you’re a fan of Harvard, you should already know some things about Jesse Clasen. To name a few, he has an incredible voice and knows how to use it, he plays piano, and occasionally, he will play some horns. What Firewood immediately teaches us is that Jesse had a hidden talent up his sleeve. Sure, he played acoustic guitar on The Inevitable and I, but the guitar on Firewood is much more intricate and it draws you into the song immediately, catching your interest and allowing Clasen to do, well…all the other things he does really well. Don’t come here looking for the pounding drums, groovy bass lines, or dizzying guitars that can be found when listening to Harvard. Just sit back and introduce yourself to the truly one of a kind talent that is The Bear Romantic.

The album starts with “Stay Mine,” an amazing first track that opens with white noise that continues through the whole song.  The acoustic guitar keeps the sense of beat while filling the silence between Clasen’s ethereal wails, and when coupled with the white noise, creates a very somber mood. I’m used to hearing his beautiful high register, but a whole different side of Jesse emerges through The Bear Romantic, and he gets to show off his equally beautiful low register. The very low, repeated notes and the sound of creaking metal add to the dark mood and make it feel like something is pressing on my chest.  Although there is only one line in the entire song, there is never a boring moment. When the last note on guitar is hit, I literally breathe a sigh of relief as the weight on my chest is lifted. It’s a very powerful opening track.

Helping you recover from the mood created by “Stay Mine” is “Farmers,” a much more upbeat, but not any less dark, track. The repetitive lyrics and simplistic backing are hypnotic, and just conjure up this really dark and mysterious visual. The song definitely does have a dark aspect – “you can’t protest, you can’t move” – the song is directly addressed to the listener, who ‘better be watching the road’. It’s a beautiful warning, that’s enthralling and unnerving at the same time.

Up next is “Kings,” which keeps the upbeat guitar going. “Kings” is the heaviest use of drums on the album this far in, although most of the song is acoustic. Delayed and layered vocals and a little bit of backmasking add so much to this song, creating such a beautiful melody.

“Desantes” slows things down a bit, but from the opening guitar, even if it’s so mellow that I had to actively pay attention to it, I was hooked. It immediately grabbed my attention and never really let it go. “Kill me, I’m worth killing. Use me, I’m worth using. Forget me, I’m worth forgetting. Kiss me, I’m worth kissing.” The lyrics are lovely and the vocal melody is haunting and incredibly vulnerable sounding, the oohs and aahs between the chorus and verse bringing back the feeling from “Stay Mine.” If there is one singer I’ve heard who truly knows how to use their voice as an instrument, it is Jesse Clasen. The soft oohs, aahs, and layered vocals show another dimension of Clasen’s voice that we never hear in Harvard. “Desantes” is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing.

Track five, “The Shed,” definitely had to grow on me, but it quickly became one of my favorites on the album. It’s got kind of a harsh, jarring guitar, but the slight vibrato at the ends of Jesse’s vocals just make this song fun to listen to. “The Shed” features some of the most obviously disturbing lyrics on the album…lyrics that caught my attention, making me listen to it and allowing it to grow on me. “I’m lying in bed with my best friend. Check if he’s dead.” It’s quite chilling that it ends on that lyric.

The heaviest use of piano on the album, “Point of View” creates another dark mood, due to its low, almost discordant notes. For some reason, the second verse sounds slightly heavier and darker than the first verse, and I prefer the sound of the second verse. I love the haunting oohs and ahhs over the verses. The kalimba echoing the piano is just eerie sounding. The extremely low ending note is chilling, resonating in your bones.

“Yellow” begins with beautifully haunting oohs and aahs, immediately drawing me into the song. The deep vocals on the line, “are you jealous often?” make it stick in my head for a long time after each listen. The horns during the bridge create a sense of mourning and the vocal harmonies are tinted with longing. The lyrics are some of the most straight forward and easy to relate to on the album.

“Sparrows” combines acoustic guitar and piano to create a fuller sound, though still very stripped down and organic feeling. There is a very pretty piano part toward the end that brings up slow motion images of waves crashing into cliffs on a secluded beach somewhere. It’s the perfect mix of lovely and dark, something that the entire album is very good example of.

“The End” brings us to, well, the end. The more I listen to this song the more I love it. Even if you weren’t looking at the track listing you would just know that this would bring the album to a close. This is probably the most vulnerable song on the album…there is nowhere to hide. It’s just Jesse’s soft vocals over a very quiet guitar that barely fills the silence behind him. “He’s in your nightmares. He holds the future in his hands. He kills for pleasure.” “He sets fire to your bones.” Despite having the darkest lyrics on the album, “The End” manages to keep a very inspirational tone with its beautiful vocal melody.

Firewood is an amazing first album, and I certainly hope it’s the first of many. It’s refreshing, unique, and packed with more talent that you can find in most bands, and The Bear Romantic is just one guy. Firewood is completely different from Harvard’s material, which was a really nice surprise. It shows that Clasen is a very talented and versatile musician who will hopefully create lots of new material in the future. I will be eagerly awaiting new music from Jesse Clasen, whether it’s from The Bear Romantic, Harvard, or another project, but until then, Firewood will be on repeat.