Black Bear

Chicago-raised singer/songwriter Andrew Belle worked tirelessly leading up to the 2010 release of his debut album The Ladder, doing performances and songwriting work in his field to the point that he was recognized with a John Lennon Songwriting award in 2009, a year before he even had an album out. While The Ladder leaned on the influence of indie folk contemporaries like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, its 2013 follow-up, Black Bear, went in a more dreamy and electronic direction, with Belle citing M83 and Beach House as key influences on the album. By that time, Belle was splitting his time between Chicago and Nashville, Tennessee, going so far as to participate in the Ten Out of Tenn tour, a show based around Tennessee artists. The album marked his debut in the Billboard 200. After getting married and relocating to Los Angeles, Dive Deep followed in 2017 and continued along the stylistic course set by Black Bear. ~ Fred Thomas