Collegiate Times

The five members sit together on a sofa, all wearing white shirts and white pants. Each person holds a flower to his face, which inevitably conceals part of his identity.

Today, Minus the Bear releases its fourth full-length album, “OMNI,” through Dangerbird Records, a label that includes artists such as Hot Hot Heat and Silversun Pickups.

The effort, like the photograph’s wardrobe suggests, smoothly fuses individual contributions into a singular, crisp entity. The vibrancy of the different flower colors, however, curbs any notion that all-white translates as monotony. “OMNI” certainly has personality and a rather suggestive one at that.

What hides behind the petals is a risque exploration of sexuality. Lead singer and guitarist Jake Snider crafted every track with lyrics that have intimate implications.

This sensual aura isn’t unfamiliar to Minus the Bear. Its three prior full-length releases, all through Suicide Squeeze Records, featured songs drenched in romance. And really, drenched in water. Snider seems to have quite the affinity for liquid when it comes to
narrating love — or more accurately, lust.

At the edge of a lake in “Secret Country,” Snider sings, “There’s water on the concrete, rivulets on your face, and you release me from your kiss, and do a dance for me in the rain.”

“Secret Country” is the most aggressive track on “OMNI,” with lead guitarist Dave Knudson dictating each line of verse with picks at his axe that emit coarse grunts.  

The song’s final minute is a dense sound cloud that complements an impassioned Snider shouting, “We forget where we are.” He has confidence in his ability to make his partner(s) swoon, a skill that he declares outright on the album opener “My Time.”

Drummer Erin Tate introduces “My Time” with a simple beat that becomes highly distorted before Knudson and keyboardist Alex Rose jump in with a peppy back-and-forth of guitar and synthesizer.

Snider doesn’t veil his intentions as he sings, “Turn off the lights, and touch me in the dark, fade into the feeling.”

He’s such a supposed stud that he claims, “I got your nights, I got your days, I got you on my time.”

While the theme of “OMNI” shouldn’t surprise Minus the Bear fans, the album isn’t as musically eccentric as 2002’s “Highly Refined Pirates.” Songs such as “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” had structures as wandering as their titles. Even 2007’s “Planet of Ice,” an intriguing shift in the Minus the Bear discography, can be noted for its odd — but great — quirks.

With no shortage of hooks and catchy choruses, “OMNI” is the band’s most accessible composition to date. “Excuses” prances with light feet as Knudson plucks soft ambience and Tate taps his cymbals with care. Knudson’s progressive guitar tapping and whirlwind pedal work aren’t as prominent, while the myriad tones of Rose’s keys, on the other hand, have a more defined face.

But Minus the Bear’s inclination to experiment is infused in “OMNI,” just not in the let’s-make-everything-sound-crazy way some might desire. “The Thief” rides an undulating pace and maintains a funky twang throughout. “Animal Backwards” takes the preceding song, “Into the Mirror,” and reverses its instrumental audio. The two come together and create a new layer over which Snider sings, “She is a wolf looking through my window.”

There is something irresistible about this unnamed woman’s “green eyed glow.”

Maybe Snider had her “on his time.”

Regardless, “OMNI” is deserving of your time. For returners, it could take a few extra spins to bloom. Rest assured: Minus the Bear knows its flowers.

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A version of this article appeared in the May 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.