Bear Hands: "We spent more time obsessing over sounds on this record"

Bear Hands’ new album, the slightly ominous sounding ‘You’ll Pay For This’ landed in the UK last week. Frontman Dylan Rau puts aside doing his taxes [so responsible - Ed] in amongst a batch of US dates with Foals to explain how it came about.

Hey Dylan, how are your dates with Foals going? Did you know the band beforehand?

We toured with Foals once before and definitely developed a deep bond very quickly. It's an honour to share the road with them and a pleasure watching their set every night.

What are the main ways ‘You’ll Pay For This’ is a progression from your last two records?

I think we spent more time obsessing over sounds on this record than any previous album. Lots of synth experimentation and drum machines and the like.

What environment did you write it in, and how did that feed into the music?

Ted and I camped out in this cool little cabin near Big Bear California that's owned by a friend of a friend and stays pretty vacant. It was definitely helpful to get away and create in isolation.

Did you know what you wanted to create before you started, and to what extent was that realised?

I really take music making song by song. So once the lyrics or skeleton of a song is written then it's possible to set your goals and stride confidently forward.