With less than a month until the much anticipated second album Demons from Scottish indie soul collective brownbear, we gave their latest single All I Want a streaming spin.
Fronted by Ayrshire creative Matt Hickman, brownbear have achieved a strong grassroots following across the Scottish Indie scene. They have supported the likes of The Libertines, The View and Michael Kiwanuka across the UK.
All I Want is the third single from Demons, the long overdue follow up to 2018’s What is Home. From the singles released so far, this new album will reflect the journey and challenges that writer Matt has lived through to get to this point again. But it’s no doom and gloom, there is a clear sense of optimism and in typical brownbear fashion it remains infectiously upbeat and fun.
All I Want is set to be the new albums first track it and what a toe tapping opener it is. Starting with a joyous simple acoustic overture, the listener is fooled as just 8 seconds later the band burst in with the same lively beat just this time thicker, louder and faster. Accompanied to a rhythmic chant of ‘oh oh oh oh oh oh oh’ , this is a charming start.
I don’t care what I’ve been told
All I know is I want you.
Visions of us growing old
And all the things we might go through.
Do you see them too?
From the opening first lines, this is a joyful love song. A story that shares the difficulties of opening your heart back up for love and wondering if that love will be reciprocated. Perhaps there is a genuine muse at the heart of these lyrics, however, I can’t help feel this track – like predecessor Close Call – is using the narrative metaphorically to describe the love and relationship to music. Something brownbear creative Matt Hickman has spoke openly about in the past. Like previous releases, the lyrics lend themselves to many interpretations and that is essentially what makes a good songwriter a great songwriter.
All I Want is a beautifully fun positive tune that will get everybody moving. Matt’s smokey soulful growl of a vocal is undeniably the foundation of brownbear but the lyrical rhythms and full band sound are just as captivating.
Brownbear’s second album Demons drops March 17th with an intimate album launch gig at Glasgow’s St Lukes on March 24th.
Words by Anne Kelly