I should be forthcoming: Sunny Day Real Estate is one of my favorite bands ever. I mean ever. And it’s been that way eleven years. The first time I heard Radiohead (who now bears the same distinction) I thought “his voice sounds a bit like Jeremy.” When mewithoutYou (another all time favorite) released a song with Jeremy on guest vocals, I wept real tears. I spent more than is reasonable for vinyl copies of How it Feels to be Something On and The Rising Tide (which my dog ate the day I got it). I have been pushing hard for vinyl reissues of World Waits and The Fire Theft.

So why did it take me five years to listen to his third proper solo record? Well, I really don’t know.

Maybe I should blame The Missing Link, a collection of outtakes for World Waits that faltered my hope in Jeremy for a turn. Maybe I should blame World Waits for being a perfect cinematic pop record, and The Return of the Frog Queen for being the perfect baroque-psych-indie record, and so I didn’t feel the need for another Jeremy Enigk solo record.

But then earlier this year, a friend berated me for ignoring it, and I took it to heart. And Jeremy did not disappoint. Where The Return of the Frog Queen was delightfully bizarre and World Waits was a shining emerald of epic pop, Vale Oso (OK Bear, en ingles. Spain was the only country to get a vinyl pressing) is a heavier beast. Of course it has elements of the off kilter chamber pop from his debut (see the title track) and soaring, movie trailer emotiveness (opener Mind Idea), and of course it has his tell-tale nods to Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel (which have been true ever since How it Feels…) but it’s also got some fire to it. The production of OK Bear is more rock-band centered, with fewer horns and strings and more electric guitars. Late of Camera is a gentle pop rock song sandwiched between full on rock bombast, which shouldn’t be surprising from the frontman of the band who practically invented the loud-soft-loud dynamic, except that his solo albums have never adopted the same preoccupation with loud instruments. Guitars roar and drums pound, and Jeremy’s voice shoots high above it all. Which is fine on its own, but it wouldn’t mean a thing if the songwriting weren’t up to snuff, which it totally is. No one writes a melody like Jeremy Enigk, and no one sings it like him either. The songs on OK Bear are just as poignant and heart-pulling as anything on his other records. And yes, I’m including his full band counterparts. It may not be as monumental as Diary, but I’ll be damned if it’s not just as enjoyable.