Across 11 tracks, Boy & Bear’s sixth studio album, out today, offers a boundless exploration of melodic hooks, storytelling, and luminous pop.
Tripping Over Time is a celebration of the new-found wisdom of age, according to vocalist/lyricist Dave Hosking. “It’s about how time changes us, we grow up, our priorities shift, our lives move onto new chapters and with this comes new insights but also new challenges. It’s a balancing act of reflecting, or even yearning for our youth whilst also embracing life as it inevitably moves forward,” he explains.
Heralding a sublime new chapter for the five-piece, its release finds Boy & Bear simultaneously harnessing their signature sound while also tripping the light fantastic into brave new sonic worlds. Opening with its title track, Tripping Over Time shimmers with gentle grooves and warm melodies, before gliding into one of the album’s lead singles, “Where Does Life Begin”.
Overall, the album acts as a vivid snapshot of life in every facet. But amongst the silky undulations and endless charisma, another firm highlight emerges in the form of the LP’s focus track “Ancestors”, a bundle of melancholic serenity, brandishing Bon Iver-esque contemplations and a real-world experience for Hosking himself.
To celebrate the album’s release, the five-piece are taking it our tour with a huge run of capital city shows in 2026. Tickets to their 2026 tour go on sale on Tuesday, December 16th – see here for more details. Plus, Sydneysiders can catch them this weekend (Sunday, December 14th) for a once-in-a-lifetime performance at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt – select tickets are available here.
Ahead of their 2026 tour, Hosking gave Rolling Stone AU/NZ an exclusive track-by-track rundown of their new album, which you can check out below.
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Boy & Bear’s sixth studio album Tripping Over Time is out now.
” Tripping Over Time”
DH: “Tripping Over Time” is a celebration of the new-found wisdom of age. As much as it’s a trade-off sometimes, I feel more at peace with myself and my circumstances these days. The things that give me joy have shifted, I operate to a slower but more stable pace and there’s something profoundly pleasant about this.
“Where Does Life Begin”
DH: The inspiration for “Where Does Life Begin” came from my own personal experiences. The song is about yearning for the freedom of youth. Sometimes the passing of time changes us in a way where we can feel like we’ve lost a part of ourselves. I think on some level I miss the naivety I once had about the world. In our 20s we seem less inhibited and more confident about what’s in front of us, but the realities of life can eventually start to catch up with us. I liked the simplicity of the idea of watching people dancing from afar, and feeling like maybe I no longer belonged there.
“Vertigo”
DH: I’m interested in painting a mood with lyrics and melody, not being too specific or literal but leaving room for interpretation, and I feel that “Vertigo” is a good example of this. That said, “Vertigo” explores the awkwardness of life and time and change. We grow up, but on some level we can still feel like children we really don’t know anything at all but maybe that’s also okay? I really wanted to explore this concept in a light-hearted way. On some level it’s also about embracing these moments in our lives with a sense of humour and openness.
“Ancestors”
DH: “Ancestors” is really about fighting for our relationships. Our intimate relationships can ebb and flow, going through different phases some of which challenge the very foundations they stand on. My partner and I had had an intense argument and I went out and sat by our veggie patch. I remember watching the bees and thinking how small they were compared to the scenario we were in. It moved me. There was however something primal and instinctive that kicked in to go back and reconnect. Almost as if my ancestors were telling me to keep striving to protect the very thing that gives me joy and peace.
“Thunder”
DH: “Thunder” was a really fun song to record. It was embracing ’70s folk pop. It’s not suppose to be complicated but just doubled down on the feel of the band and embracing some of our older musical tones, there is banjo in there and slide guitar and it’s not trying to be something it’s not and I think that’s the beauty of that song.
“Lost Control”
DH: “Lost Control” is in a strange way a love song. I’ve had significant challenges in my life over the past few years and sometimes these personal challenges can start to impede themselves on our intimate relationships. Almost as if they become some polygamous third party that takes over the space. But we’ve managed. The challenges have bonded us closer than ever and I think this song is a homage to that.
“Love Has Been Too Good to Me”
DH: This is probably my favourite song on the record. The title kind of sums it up. It’s a reflection on the fact that I have been very lucky. I have a loving family, a loving partner and very close relationships with friends and family and I’ve come to realise that not everyone has that in their life. It’s really just connected to my gratitude to all of the people in my life.
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“Roses”
DH: “Roses” is about the fact that essentially we are all going to die, but ultimately that is one of the greatest inspirations for life. Life is short and death is inevitable but that’s also the greatest motivator for life. Maybe conceptually it’s a little morbid but the song’s vibe is far from that. We always wanted it to feel reflective and not too weighty. Sometimes pairing heavier concepts with lighter sonics can lead to interesting results and hopefully that’s what the listener gets to experience here. Maybe I’ve become more fascinated with it as I’ve gotten older but ultimately it’s a constant reminder for me to keep appreciating the joys in life big and small.
“Sleep Talking”
DH: “Sleep Talking” is kind of a fictional song where I was kind of looking at the fact of what if by my actions this relationship doesn’t work out, what if I completely fuck it up? Jon [Hart, keys/vocals] wrote this sad ballad, Jon constantly writes sad ballads which I love because I love sad ballads, and we workshopped it together and I came up with that melody and then the lyrics started coming out. I don’t have to say a lot more because I think everything is in the lyrics of that song.
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“All These Years”
DH: This was an idea that Killian came up with about 16 to 17 years ago. Him and Jon were jamming on it and I was working on a long-elongated melody for it and it just started to take life. It’s really just about finding peace sometimes with the chaos and finding peace with the parts of our life that we wish weren’t there.
“Movie”
DH: This was an interesting song. An really old idea, a piano idea, and we hadn’t looked at it for a really long time and I came up with a melody, completely in gibberish (which I kind of what I do with all our songs) and Justin Stanley, our producer, was really into the song and essentially I hit a point where I had no idea what the song was about and I didn’t have the energy to write the lyrics and so I gave Tim [Hart, drummer/vocalist] a call and said I think this can be great and what are your thoughts on the lyrics and he was like “leave it with me”.
Tim said: “I’d been playing around with the concept of you look at your life and you want to live in a way where you make all the right choices, and take all the right paths in life, and none of us do it obviously, but this lyric is kind of imagining what it would be like and the character in the song is playing this role in the hope that if they play this role enough they will ultimately become the person that ultimately makes better choices and is ultimately a better person.”
