Music

“And then we all bought yachts and raced up to the islands…. Our girls are looking so good!” sings Jake Snider to open Minus the Bear’s new album, Highly Refined Pirates. It’s smirky lines like these—combined with clean, ringing guitar lines and inescapable pop hooks—that have won the Seattle five-piece a rabid Nor’western following. The cool kids call it “math rock,” earmarked by the utterly adept guitarist spraying angular melodies heavenward with almost jazzy abandon. Spacey electronics, No Knife-like fret workouts, and the tenderness of Pinback make for one hell of a band. Not to mention the credo, “Don’t say no to pills/Ativin won’t kill.”
—Alyssa Matthews