Chinese American Bear: 2026

Seattle-based trio, Chinese American Bear — vocalist Annie Tong, multi-instrumentalist Bryce Barsten, and drummer Zichun "Rex" Liu — have a new, third album, Dim Sum & Then Some, which continues their joyful bilingual journey of effervescent pop. To stretch the metaphor even further (and bringing more light into this first day of standard-time autumnal darkness), Chinese American Bear's music is a sunflower bouquet of euphoric mando-pop, as charming as a somersaulting panda, and laced with the joy of Annie and Bryce’s longtime love story. 

Chinese American Bear performed three songs: their latest single (not on the album), "Dance Dance Dance (跳舞跳舞跳舞)," and two album tracks, "Forever Lover (永远的爱人)," and "Take Me to Beijing (一起回北京)." 

As they chat about in this FUV Live/UKNY session,Tong and Barsten began working together as musicians in a serendipitous way, and in a conversation, they told me of their relationship, that road from a llama farm, high school, and first dates to New York City and Princeton. As a couple, creatively and personally, they've found with a charming angle on pop that's embraces romance, dumplings (and good food overall!), and their appreciation of the rhythmic bounce of the Mandarin dialect. Tong and Barsten are new parents too, and there's a refreshing, childlike innocence to their songs, much needed in this this complicated world.

[Session recorded 6/22/26. Engineered by Nadia Garriga, Holden Buckley, Gwen Taylor, and Heather Jones. Produced by Kara Manning. Videographers: Olivia Iannaccone, Kellie McGuinness and Dylan Duong.]