BLACK BEAR: The Cinnamon Phase
Baskerville Hill Records
08.05.2006

The best music is a part of who you are, and of who you were – and with each listen you are continuously transformed as you look upon your past from a new perspective. For artist Sam Beebe, songwriting becomes a portal into his memories and experiences. With every reflection comes not only emotion, but the knowledge that all has a purpose and direction that has lead him up to this point in his life. Under the band name Black Bear, this twenty-something created ‘The Cinnamon Phase’; an introspective and enchanting electronic tour de force.
Beebe’s vocals are simple, monotone, and wrapped in a thin layer of texture - often layered over his own backing vocal tracks, both lyrical and nonsensical. Though this enables a much fuller sound, it seems to add to the theme of loneliness as well. In many of the tracks it is these vocals, Sam’s voice alone, which carves the rhythmic pattern into the flow of synthesizer beats and keyboard chords.
Most original perhaps, is Sam’s song structure – how he will seamlessly shift between a faster, constant pace and a much slower one - where focus becomes more on the vocal and less on the music. The tracks Black Bear and Those Rusty Drums, also known as January and April respectively, are key examples of this.
There is a song for every month and a story behind every song; a feeling driving every cleverly written phrase of words, from September’s thoughts on a girl:

“She bears the weight of what her parents will think / she inherits the
jinx of having different instincts / I’m not superstitious but when she
faces west / I’ll make wishes on the nape of her neck…”

to a slightly different attitude, “I believe in immediacy / ...achieve indecency, kiss my mischief blissfully” found in July. The liner notes, complete with photographs taken of ex-girlfriends and anecdotes of recording in cars, make for an interesting addition and contribute to the very personal nature displayed throughout the album.
Black Bear, a.k.a. Sam Beebe, is certainly one to watch.

_Sherri Prunier