The Indestructible Water Bear

When a band emerges from the rough underground of Philadelphia’s music scene with the audacity to name themselves after one of the sturdiest microscopic creatures on the planet, you know you’re in for something extraordinary. The Indestructible Water Bear’s debut full-length album “Everything is OK” is nothing short of a hard, emotional hurricane that’ll blast through your speakers and straight into your soul.

From the very initial moment, you can tell that Geoff Rezvani (guitars), Gail Farmer (vocals), Jimish Mehta (bass), and Jon Lipson (drums) aren’t here to play nice – they’re ripping apart the last five years of emotional baggage with some serious musical muscle. This is the definition of a musical therapy session wound up to eleven.

Gail Farmer’s vocals are the true powerhouse here. She doesn’t just sing; she excavates emotions, dragging them from the deepest corners of human experience and hurling them into the stratosphere. Her range is insane – one moment she’s a whisper, the next a full-blown emotional tsunami. Geoff Rezvani‘s guitar work is seriously striking, blending the 90s alternative grit vibes with the more refined touch of modern indie. The guitar lines in tracks like “Missing You” are particularly noteworthy – they’re not just played, they’re released, like a wild animal let loose on the track. The rhythm section’s no slouch either. Jimish Mehta on bass and Jon Lipson on drums put down a beat so rock-solid that you could build a skyscraper on it. They keep things tight, making even the trickiest emotional shifts feel smooth and natural.

Want to hear the band at their best? “I Walk the Night” is where the band really flexes their musical muscles. It kicks off with a slow burn of longing before building up to this massive wall of sound. The way the melodies weave together is pretty damn haunting yet cathartic, but in a good way — a vibe that’s hard to shake.

“Everything is OK” addresses the messy world of emotions eyeball to eyeball. This is not a sugar-coated pop album – it’s a bloody, honest look at the ups and downs of life. Joy, loss, fear, the whole nine yards. Listening to it feels like you’re sitting in on a group therapy session, with each track peeling back another layer, leaving you feeling like you’ve just had an intense heart-to-heart with the band.

Recorded at Kawari Sound by Zach Goldstein, the production on this album is clean but doesn’t misplace that rough, almost live vibe. It’s got just enough grind to keep it from sounding too slick – something a lot of modern rock bands seem to forget. You can really hear the Philly influence throughout the record. There’s this no-nonsense, authentic texture that screams East Coast underground rock. These guys have taken bits and pieces from grunge, shoegaze, and emo, and mixed them up into something wholly exclusive.

Come January 1st, 2025, when this album hits streaming platforms (with a vinyl release to follow), rock fans are in for a momentous delicacy. The Indestructible Water Bear is here to stay. For folks who like rock with depth, complexity, and zero pretension, “Everything is OK” isn’t just recommended – it’s essential listening. This is a band that doesn’t just play music; they excavate human experience, one thunderous track at a time.

Rock on, Water Bears. Rock. Freaking. On. - Buzzy Band

A project conceived by Philadelphia’s Geoff Rezvani and Gail Farmer, the pair rounded out their line-up with the addition of Jimish Mehta on bass, and Jon Lipson on drums to create The Indestructible Water Bear.

They’re new to our blog thanks to their debut album, Everything is OK. There is a certain irony to its platitude-esque title, with the album pulling of the full gamut of human experience with themes of joy, love, fear, sadness, longing and separation.

I was struck by the band’s sound right from the off. A Thousand Suns gives us some jangly, throwback alternative rock, combining it with some folksy emo. The vocals are soulful and full of longing. especially during a soaring chorus, and the track builds nicely to its lingering guitar solo.

I Walk the Night proves an early standout, giving us some contrast with its driving drums and ruminating lyrics. All the while a swaying rhythm stirs, before exploding into life during a noisy, cathartic chorus. It flows into another highlight, Missing You, which softens things during a brooding moment that channels the best of the ’90s.

Elsewhere, My Baseline gives us some powerful intimacy. The Center of the Universe Smells Like Raspberries takes things in a psychedelic, shoegaze direction. Nothing Will Be the Same chugs along with Modest Mouse-esque indie rock before title track Everything is OK closes the album with some heavy riffs and light vocals.

The Indestructible Water Bear’s debut is an assured one, giving us retro and modern rock in equal measure. The strength of its emotion is compelling, and beautifully delivered through Gail’s vocals and the band’s instrumentals. I’ll be keeping an eye on this band for sure.

Everything is OK was recorded just outside Philadelphia at Kawari Sound by Zach Goldstein. It’s out now to stream and buy digitally, with a vinyl release planned soon. You can check it out below. - York is Calling

Rock music is known for being a big and brash and bombastic form, but Everything is OK shows that it can also be deft and delicate, poised and purposeful. The seven tracks that make up this, The Indestructible Water Bear’s debut album, remind us that you can make just as big an impact by avoiding the more obvious rock moves and embracing the more ornate ones. That understatement speaks volumes, ironically!

The opener, “A Thousand Suns” sets the scene perfectly, melding gentle rock with jangling indie in the same way bands such as The Sundays did back in the day…and that is not a musical reference that I throw around lightly.

“Missing You” sees the band at their most understated, a spacious blend of 60’s pastel pop moves and modern indie grooves, before it explodes, goes for broke and heads for the finish line in a more rock and roll frame of mind.

The strange but brilliantly titled “The Centre of the Universe Smells Like Raspberries” plays with raw dynamic, running from almost nothingness to squalling walls of guitar noise and reminding me a lot of Mazzy Star’s finest moments…again, another reference point that I am prepared to dish out sparingly.

Everything is OK is a great album that blends well-crafted sonic restraint with just enough explosive moments to ensure that the band walks that fine line between rousing rock and eloquent indie. - The Big Takeover