Bear in Heaven at Lollapalooza 2012 | Photos and music review

A faint mist spilling from the Sony stage felt like a teaser as Bear in Heaven stepped up to the mic. It might as well have been a mirage teasing us early attendees melting like wax figures beneath the burning sun. "What's up Chicago?" asked frontman Jon Philpot before the band launching its weightless, loop-enhanced pastiche into the air where it stayed, floating amiably. The buzzy Brooklynites have steadily drifted toward the dreamier side of the sonic spectrum, taking a detour from earlier proggier efforts. As they made their way through this year's ethereal I Love You, It's Cool, something significantly moodier was at play, indebted to the Pet Shop Boys and other new-wave heroes enamored of pulsating rhythms and saturated electronic washes. Fastened to a chrome-plated pop chassis, Bear in Heaven has transformed itself into a machine-precise unit confidently transmitting its synth-pop agenda. That it was a sound better suited to a dark nightclub wasn't lost on Philpot. "Man, it's hot as fuck up here," he said. More than just stating the obvious, the singer was giving us a glimpse of his human side if only for a moment before the band launched back into its synthetic soundtrack