While this group is not from another country, they are off the beaten path enough that they should be brought to light. On a basic level and on paper, The Dear Hunter (not deer) is a group of five male musicians. They are a progressive or indie rock group that is not signed on by any record company. They also have three full-length albums and eleven EP’s out. However, once you get past all the numbers and facts, they are a whole other thing entirely.

They are a group of social commentary. Like many musicians, they use their music to comment on their point of view. However, while most musicians go off of a personal issue, they comment on social issues as a whole. Their albums are an example of this. Of their three full length albums, two are social commentaries. Act Two: Dear Miss Leading is about the dreadful and tragically beautiful consequences of falling in and out of love and lust. They use songs like Red Hands to compare love and betrayal to guilt of a heinous crime. Act Three: Life and Death is about the life of war and what it does to the people it touches. This album has the sounds of war along with satirical pieces to show how war is portrayed from all angles. The opening song Writing on a Wall is like a recruitment call/funeral dirge for war. While being sung in four-part harmony, war snares are playing and a bomb siren runs in harmony to the music. One of the songs that show their satirical side is the song Go Get Your Gun. This song has a cheerful and uplifting beat while its message is morbid: it is a call to arms telling the soldiers to kill for their country.

Their color EPs are the most interesting. Based on nine different colors, the band attempted to embody these different colors through their music. From the angry Red, to the introspective White, they  still continue to comment on even more sensitive issues through their music on these EPs.

While they aren’t well known, The Dear Hunter should be. They aren’t afraid to write complex melodic lines about what they are truly thinking in our society today. Their albums and various EPs can be found for purchase in the ITunes store.