Minus The Bear
OMNI - Dangerbird
FILTER Grade: 83%

Someone in Minus the Bear must have been chasing after a seriously special lady while working on OMNI, the fourth full-length from the Seattle quintet, because the album oozes desire at every turn. But while opener “My Time” starts things off with single-entendre sexuality with frontman Jake Snider begging to hear his name yelled out, songs like “Hold Me Down” show off a sincere yearning for companionship that keep the album’s message from feeling sleazy. Then there’s the music itself, which finds Minus the Bear still boasting its trademark funkadelic rock grooves meshed with electro-pop quirk, but now with a smoother and more linear structure. It goes to show that the guys are maturing from the days when their songs used to have titles like “Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!”, but longtime fans needn’t worry. OMNI will still get plenty of fist pumps at the live show, but maybe now bodies will rock the bedroom afterward, too. TAMARA VALLEJOS