Chinese American Bear is a quirky, lighthearted, mando pop-rock duo based in Seattle, WA creating eclectic bilingual (English/Chinese) ear candy. Composed of Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten, the couple creates groovy, and “not too serious, food loving” tunes in their home studio together. They’ve been described as the child of Melody’s Echo Chamber, The Flaming Lips, Dusty Springfield, and Care Bear, and their live show is like “a punk show for toddlers.”. The duo’s racked up over 1MM plays across platforms, and has been featured in VOGUE+ (China), praised by BBC Music, KEXP, featured on Spotify Editorial Playlists like New in Indie, Chill Vibes, Fresh Finds Indie, Bedroom Pop, Fresh Finds, Chinese Indie Picks, 組團飆歌, 獨立最前線, 組團飆歌, 獨立最前線, along with H&M’s Official In-Store playlist. They’re been reviewed and featured by pulbications like Under The Radar, DORK, C-heads, FLOOD, Loudwomen, and more. The duo is signed with Moshi Moshi out of the UK, and China’s indie record label Modern Sky. They began rolling out singles from their 11 song Sophomore album Wah!!!, due to be released on October 18th. The duo will tour the US, Canada, UK and China in support of their new album. Chinese American Bear’s sophomore album Wah!!! is an accumulation of delicious ear candy songs that have been crafted over the past two years. Written, produced, and mixed by the duo (Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten) themselves at their home studio in Seattle, WA, the album is full of comedy, groove, quirk, and cuteness, all packed into an 11 song album that keeps you smiling the whole way through. Wah!!! has melodically rich instrumentation, bits of psychedelia, doses of funk, and a lot of lyrics about filling up your belly with food. With lyrics like “Yummy yummy yummy, in my tummy tummy, slurpin’ them up all day long”, and “I want some fizzy sugary bubbles in my belly”, the foodie duo mentions food in almost every song, but never labors over it. Songs like “Kids Go Down” take you right to a sunlit morning where the vibes are good and the day is free. Other songs like Love You 愛你 and Take me to Beijing 一起回北京 have more heartfelt sentiment about fans, dreams, and nostalgic memories of Beijing summers. And of course, many of the songs are inspired by Anne’s Asian immigrant upbringing with lyrics that call back to her mom’s strict reprimands of “do your homework, practice piano!” and spending weekends in Manhattan’s Chinatown when the duo lived in NYC. The duo said “Wah!!! isn’t really about anything in particular. We like that. We like to write what makes us smile on any particular day. Food, love, friends, and funny bits about our lives.” The album title “Wah!” is the Chinese version of “Wow!”. It’s used in the exact same exclamatory way. The duo found it fitting as their next album title because the expression simply matches their excitement for these songs.