Uncut (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Bear In Heaven experiment with loping dub, Faust-like tape loops, and syrupy vintage synthesisers....They appear quite immersed."
Bear In Heaven: Jon Philpot (guitar, synthesizer); Adam Wills (guitar); Sadek Bazarraa (synthesizer); James Elliot (bass guitar); Joe Stickney (drums).
Personnel: Jon Philpot (vocals).
VOLUME I fittingly was recorded by the husband-and-wife team Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas in 2004 years before the Besnard Lakes reanimated the vocal chi of PET SOUNDS era Beach Boys and dropped their 2007 masterpiece THE BESNARD LAKES ARE THE DARK HORSE. VOLUME I finds a starkly different band: one that emphasizes majestic guitar and organ swells over vocal harmonies--although those lurk in the din--and embraces a decidedly more raw and energetic approach. Surprisingly, this holds up though proving that Besnard Lakes were a great band--and certainly at the forefront of Montreal's early-'00s indie explosion--capable of devastating guitar rock or feathery four part harmony--whichever muse caught their collective fancy.