The Dears Sign U.K. Deal With Bella Union

Murray Lightburn must have been celebrating something at a recent performance in Kingston, Ontario. The Dears' frontman was thirstily drinking from a bottle as his speech slowly descended into an incomprehensible slur, before he decided to recoup with a short nap.

The band played on until Lightburn, with newfound energy, got up and resumed the song. So just what was the Montrealer drinking to?

Well, the buzz around them at this year's SXSW music conference was so intense that anyone might drink just to settle their nerves, but for the sometimes MapleMusic, sometimes independent band, getting signed to the U.K. label Bella Union is cause for true celebration.

The Dears have been constantly changing since Lightburn's 1995 brainchild came into existence, starting as a diminutive four-piece and expanding exponentially to an overflowing, stage-crushing lineup, forever assaulting audiences with a symphonic pop sound that has left critics and fans stunned. It remains to be seen what the Bella Union signing will mean for The Dears. While it may just be a U.K. distribution deal, The Dears have already announced a new single to be released by the end of the summer, as with artists like Danko Jones and Hawksley Workman, U.K. audiences may be getting a lot more of the best homegrown Canadian talent than we will here at home.

Following the single, The Dears will begin touring while a new full-length studio album looks like it will be arriving sometime this fall. Bella Union is home to some other unique artists with a penchant for sonic experimentation and restructuring like Explosions In The Sky, Sing Sing, Dirty Three and Cocteau Twins, so The Dears should feel right at home as they piece together the new album. Last time, Lightburn teased fans with two EPs before the release of No Cities Left, a truly passionate album in the face of so much en vogue cynicism.