The Dear Hunter

Today I want to focus on the other "Dear" band making noise this year. Kyle recently covered the progress of Dear In The Headlights, a great indie band from Phoenix (where I will be moving in a month), and now I present The Dear Hunter. Actually, we already did a short piece on them as the opener for the Say Anything/Saves The Day show back in the spring. However, that was short and in the past, and since then The Dear Hunter have dropped their sophomore album Act II: The Meaning Of & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading.

Yes you're correct in guessing that their albums tell a story; a sort of play/musical if you will. This is nothing new, but its an idea that I sort of like in the way that it really brings more out of the lyrics of the music, especially when done by prog rockers Coheed & Cambria, but they deserve a separate post of their own.

The story in the work of The Dear Hunter involves the tragic birth, life, and death of a boy known as the Dear Hunter. The story itself is interesting to follow if you like to really just sit down and study the lyrics and music, but words aside I think the songwriting itself can stand on its own. The concept for the band was born entirely out of the mind of former The Receiving End Of Sirens band member Casey Crescenzo. In fact in the beginning The Dear Hunter was nothing more than Crescenzo himself. What started as a side project for Crescenzo wanting to branch out musically from the post-hardcore box of TREOS has evolved into a fully functioning band now. The original EP Dear Ms. Leading was recorded entirely by Crescenzo, and the debut CD; Act I: The Lake South, The River North was all recorded by Crescenzo plus his mother for backing vocals and brother for the drum parts. However, the latest release features a full backing band, including his brother now signed on as the full time drummer.

Musically, Act II is an eclectic piece of work, and really demonstrates Casey's song-writing abilities. The album features pieces of posthardcore, prog rock and indie mixed with influences of folk and orchestral sounds. Crescenzo does all the main vocals and is a talented singer as well, with an ability to both sing soft and melodically but also belt out and really let the emotion into his voice when needed.

Here are a couple highlight tracks from the album to get an idea of their sound. But I really recommend checking out the whole thing, because there's a lot of variety in the tracks and its hard to get a good feel for the sound of the band without listening to the entire album.

The Dear Hunter - The Procession

The Dear Hunter - Smiling Swine

The Dear Hunter - Blood Of The Rose


-Alec