Need To Breathe August 4, 2009

n their latest album, The Outsiders, NEEDTOBREATHE has truly come into their own, seamlessly blending ambient, arena-ready soundscapes with a decidedly Southern sensibility. “The ‘Southern thing’ is very scary to some people,“ Bear laughs. “But for us, it’s not so much a sound than a feeling. It’s just about having some soul in the words you write, the music that you play. And it’s something that just comes naturally to us.”

It might also be that “Southern thing” that lends a soulful warmth to Bear’s distinct voice, providing the perfect foil to each song. From the soaring majesty of “Something Beautiful” to the philosophically minded ballad “These Hard Times,” his vocals are emotive yet honest, making the words he’s singing all the more powerful and moving. “Stones Under Rushing Water” (featuring Sara Watkins of the Grammy award winning group Nickel Creek) is achingly beautiful, both musically and, perhaps even more so, lyrically. “My favorite love songs are the ones that say things in the simplest terms,” Bear relates. “When you think of a song like [Percy Sledge’s] ‘When a Man Loves a Woman,’ the words just don’t get much plainer. But the emotional impact is overwhelming.”

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