The Dears are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec.
The band formed in 1995 and released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. In 2001 and 2002 they also released the EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and Protest, as well as a collection of unreleased songs, Nor the Dahlias. They have opened for Sloan and Morrissey. In 2003 they released their second full-length album, No Cities Left.
The lineup of the band changes frequently, the only constant member being Murray Lightburn. The current members of the band are George Donoso, Valerie Jodoin-Keaton, Patrick Krief, Martin Pelland, and Lightburn's wife, Natalia Yanchak - and have been since 2004.
The band's music has been described as a cross between The Smiths, Serge Gainsbourg and Joy Division, with Lightburn's singing voice being likened to that of Blur's Damon Albarn and Morrissey, while the complexity of the music and arrangements reminds more of the art rock scene (Radiohead, Jethro Tull, Genesis).
