Minus the Bear plugs into unplugged
Several years ago, the Seattle-based band Minus the Bear set aside its sequencers, samplers, harmonizers and effects boxes and tried something radically different - a seven-song EP of acoustic tracks.
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The result, 2008's "Acoustics," compelled the 7-year-old band - which makes its Athens debut Thursday at the 40 Watt, along with the Antlers and Athens' own Twin Tigers - to rethink its approach to songwriting and performance.
"For years, radio stations and record stores have asked us to drop in and play acoustic songs," says drummer Erin Tate during a recent interview from Arizona. "It's never been possible, because we rely so much on pedals and computers and keyboards. So it became this thing where we wanted to challenge ourselves to see if we could do it.
"We did a song or two and felt how different the vibe was and we self-released ('Acoustics') just to kind of do it, and we went on that tour, and we were able to play live acoustic, which was really fun because it was something different. When you play the same song every show for six or seven years, when you get to play it a completely different way, it's exciting. We hoped that people liked it"
Tate adds the "Acoustics" sessions have influenced the creation of Minus the Bear's fourth full-length album - due in early 2010, with a single, "Into the Mirror" already out - where for the first time the indie icons recruited an outside producer (Joe Chiccarelli, who has worked with My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes and U2) to helm the project.
"Doing (the 'Acoustic' EP) kind of made us pay attention more to actual songwriting and gave us all a little more focus on how actual song structure goes," says Tat
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