Chinese American Bear’s sugary melodic play welcomes us to their ‘Land of Fun’.

By Hard of Hearing on May 19, 2026

The duo’s new album is a direct and unashamedly joyous collection from start to finish.

Photo: Eleanor Petry | Words: Lloyd Bolton

With ‘Dim Sum & Then Some’, Chinese American Bear have released one of the most uncomplicatedly fun albums of the year. There is an instantly infectious, sugary quality to this record which makes for a joyous listening experience. The sound combines modern pop references with the optimistic major-key melodies which underscored much of the poppier alternative music of the late 2000s, suggesting the hits of MGMT, and Tame Impala without the derivative straining which can make such aspirations cringe-worthy.

My attention was initially caught by the single ‘Mama’, built around a ‘Get Lucky’ three-chord riff with rounded edges recalling Ana Frango Electrico and Gelli Haha. This track is typical of the best songs on the album in the immaculate pacing of simple variations on a core theme. Similar in this respect is the deceptively layered ‘Land of Fun’, in which every potential moment for some subtle variation is used to heighten the euphoric atmosphere. You feel this with the very opening – where the bulk of the instrumentation holds off for two bars as the theme is introduced, maximising its teased impact – and in the primary colour simplicity of the ‘play boy / play girl’ hook which sets up a dreamy outro.

At times, the emphasis is stretched a little too thin. ‘Lovely Day’ would make a great pop song if it only had one or two more ideas added into the mix. However, such moments are flaws which reveal the beauty of the format when it works. At the heart of the record is a deliberately cartoonish exploration of how we experience joy through music. This is mapped out most clearly on ‘No No Yeah Yeah’, which, in its play with the affirmative and negative, recalls Kraftwerk’s more elemental lyrics (‘Numbers’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and ‘Boing Boom Tschak’ come to mind). A similar effect is felt on the slightly more subtle ‘Turn Up the Radio’ as it locks into the alternating ‘Do re me’, ‘A, B, C’ and ‘One, two three’ lyrics. Likely, a sensitivity to the added complexity I am wanting from the simpler compositions would come at the expense of the liberated sense of play which is essential to the appeal of the whole record.

Indeed, these criticisms aside, come the ‘Chinese American Bear Anthem’ at the close of the record, you’ll find me standing tall, fingers aloft in earnest salute. While certain tracks may not quite work in isolation, as an eleven-song collection this record makes for a great start-to-finish listen, its buzzing highs best grounded by textural moments which spool out the sound in rich detail (see especially ‘Chant’). This is transpacific diplomacy we can all get behind, an invitation to citizenship in a candy-coloured ‘land of fun’.