New double single from Insomniac Bears out now!

Broadening its sound, the Oslo based group is dropping mantras of despair over nostalgic summer anthems. The song “1997” takes songwriter Marius Drogsås Hagen back to his first year of junior high school. A very important year in the search for identity and the struggle to define self-worth. There weren´t many rockers around in his hometown Elverum, but he got to know them all that year. Some of them are sadly lost along the way, but others he still considers his best friends. On “1997” Marius venerates friendship through a time capsule where every taste, smell and feeling from the past is attached to musical pieces. The song features a brilliant back-to-back vocal performance by Team Me front man Marius Hagen and Rumble in Rhodos singer Thomas Bratlie. Taking this single straight to the top of the soundtrack to your best summer days.

The second track “Shaky Ladders” holds a sound and sensibility that you could build a whole identity around. This hyper melodic song gets you going with up-tempo propulsive beats, bouncy bass lines and a nostalgic ABBA-tinged piano hook. It shows how well they´ve ripened into their vintage influences. Only with a darker twist, resulting in a new genre the Norwegian five piece decided to call ABBAth. Shaky Ladders is a dense, continual, and epic trip into what Insomniac Bears are capable of. It´s a sharp self-portrait of a band on its own endearing and inimitable wavelength. Lyrically it’s about singer Thomas Bratlie´s ability to examine his self-behavior and his quest to get rid of anger and the sides of himself he doesn´t recognize.

The double A-single 1997 / Shaky Ladders is the second and third single in a series of releases leading up to Insomniac Bears ‘debut album that will be out September 9th. 2022. The Norwegian band’s debut widens their sparkly art rock into a wilder, more ambitious sound, locating the edge between noise and melody. Both as storytellers and songwriters they have never sounded more in control, giving you a good reason to add these two new tracks to your summer playlist.

The album Newfound Sprawl will be released september 9 on Fysisk Format.

Photo: Anne Valeur