VIDEO OF THE DAY — BEAR HANDS: SONGS FROM UTOPIA VOLUME I

On their 2010 full-length debut, Burning Bush Supper Club, Brooklyn-based indie four-piece Bear Hands explored guns, violence, and lost love in a relatively personal way. But on their new three-track EP, Songs from Utopia Volume I — which was released for free on Independence Day — singer-guitarist Dylan Rau, guitarist Ted Feldman, bassist Val Loper, and drummer TJ Orscher take on bigger issues, examining some of the most embarrassing moments in recent American history. “It takes a warrior to kill fifteen men / It takes a gentleman to apologize,” Rau sings on “What I’ve Learned,” which looks at U.S. military involvement in Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Iraq. Now sporting a much tighter do that his previous, wilder hairstyles, he continues, “I’d like to see the red sun rising in Japan / Recall the glory days of dying like a man / With every death is born a brand-new life / Master of double speak make everything all right.” On “Bullshit Saviour Complex,” the band explores American policy in Africa, while “Disaster Shy” excoriates the government for its failure to react to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Bear Hands will be kicking off their latest tour at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on July 20 ($15, 9:00) with Fort Lean and the Judas Knife. The EP, which features a mix of genres from rap and reggae to funk and techno, can be downloaded for free here. As this is called “Volume I,” we’re hoping there’s more to come, and soon.