{"id":7010,"date":"2018-02-01T16:12:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=7010"},"modified":"2018-02-01T16:12:17","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:12:17","slug":"review-big-bear-little-bear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/review-big-bear-little-bear\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u201cBig Bear, Little Bear\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stephanie Blair | Staff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n

On Jan. 15, Rusty Clanton released his EP \u201cBig Bear, Little Bear.\u201d The Tennessee-native singer-songwriter has grown a substantial following in the last five years through YouTube and touring with the likes of Tessa Violet, dodie and Emma Blackery.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with his work, when Clanton asked his fans on <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a> to name other acts that his work sounds similar to, followers listed acts from Vance Joy to Bonnie Tyler, from Bon Iver to Sleeping at Last and Passenger.<\/span><\/p>\n

This addition to Clanton\u2019s discography brings a new aspect to his work: more complex arrangements. Typically, Clanton\u2019s recordings have a fairly low production value on the instrumental side of things \u2014 his vocal arrangements are more processed or layered, with many a self-made harmony to be found. However, this new album incorporates piano, keyboard and drums, among other things. All of this new for fans of the folk-turned-indie rock singer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though all of the tracks bring something to the EP, \u201cComfort\u201d is, by far, the best of the seven. Tackling themes of loneliness, faith and the road to self-growth, the vocals and melody carry the otherwise minimal lyrics.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, \u201cDirty Words\u201d comes in at a close second place. An upbeat sounding, jarringly juxtaposed piece about breaking up, the song is a true gem for those who have lived through the same experience: \u201cIf one more person tells me \/ \u2018hey listen, man, at least I bet you\u2019ll get some good songs out of it\u2019 \/ I\u2019ll sell my things \/ and drive my car as far out west as it will go \/ and keep on going if I can\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I were to have a complaint, it would be that the songs don\u2019t flow in a connected way, which I only want because I\u2019ve come to expect it, since his last EP did that so well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clanton\u2019s last EP \u201cCalm and Normal,\u201d was released in 2016. Though the two EPs are not distinct from each other thematically, this album holds the production value that \u201cNovels\u201d brought to the table in every song.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those looking for an easy listen, \u201cBig Bear, Little Bear\u201d is an excellent choice. For longtime fans, it\u2019s a signal of big things to come from Rusty Clanton in the coming years. As a longtime fan of the person and faithful listener of his music, I could not be more heartened by Clanton\u2019s latest effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the author at sblair13@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by:\u00a0rustyclanton.bandcamp.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephanie Blair | Staff Writer On Jan. 15, Rusty Clanton released his EP \u201cBig Bear, Little Bear.\u201d The Tennessee-native singer-songwriter has grown a substantial following in the last five years through YouTube and touring with the likes of Tessa Violet, dodie and Emma Blackery. For those unfamiliar with his work, when Clanton asked his fans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}