Bear's Den deliver the poignant video for their latest single 'Shadows'

With their highly-anticipated new album ‘Blue Hours’ set for release on May 13th via Communion Records, folk-rock duo Bear’s Den – made up of Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones – have now shared the new video for their recent single ‘Shadows’.

Created by accomplished animator Mawrgan Shaw, who also created the visuals for their recent track ‘Spiders’, the video for ‘Shadows’ looks to continue the story told on ‘Spiders’, but from a new perspective. While the original piece focused on the male character’s struggle with depression, 'Shadows' turns to his female counterpart experiencing and trying to comfort him throughout his ordeal, seen through their connection and moving into both her headspace and his. Watch ‘Shadows’ HERE

Speaking about the new video, Mawrgan said, "In approaching Shadows it was important to me that I tell the story of the song in a unique way. The music video for Shadows is about two people journeying through memories together, and as one becomes lost in their own sadness, their partner finding a way to reach them. It’s an expression of all that someone offers and gives when they say ‘I want you and all the shadows that walk beside you’. The visual story came to me from a place of wanting to show a connection between two people that wasn’t necessarily grounded in a real space, but a representation of all that we and our loved ones endure when afflicted by depression. The story is their love connecting them through disparate spaces, encapsulated in ending with their final moment becoming its own memory full of joy and triumph.

"Shadows is digitally hand-drawn and animated frame-by-frame, containing over 3,000 unique illustrations. Animated on what is known as two’s, 12 illustrations are required for every second that you see on screen. As an independent artist, the process from concept to delivery is my work. After the storyboard is approved, I move to planning out all the individual shots. I then film what will be reference material for my drawing - so the animation actually has a near complete live action cut! I then begin the painstaking job of drawing each frame. Being based in Toronto, Canada at the moment means that the filming stage had to take place in some pretty shockingly cold weather - quite the experience shooting outdoors in 20 degrees below zero! Terrifically cold weather aside, working with Bears Den has been a wonderful experience and I’m honoured to have been given the opportunity to create this piece with them."

Produced by regular collaborator Ian Grimble, themes on the new album ‘Blue Hours’ include both self-reflection and mental health after both struggled with the latter in recent years. “It’s the main overarching theme with this record,” Davie explains. The group, who has worked with mental health charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) previously added: “It probably speaks to our struggles and hopefully many other people’s too. Men are not very good at talking. We’re not really taught how to – men have no idea how to talk about this stuff, certainly to each other.”

Adding about the new album, which can be pre-ordered here, Davie says: “Blue Hours is a kind of imaginary space you get into at night, a place where you process difficult things or where you try to figure everything out.”

The pair describe the conceptual blue hours headspace that gives the new album its title as being “somewhere between a hotel, a mental health hospital, a bar that stays open later than anywhere else, a paradise, a dream, a nightmare and an endless sea of corridors and staircases leading you to rooms that represent memories – good, bad, happy or difficult.”

Despite the album’s challenging themes, it’s an album drenched in hope too. “We wanted this to be a celebration of music,” Jones continues. “I think that informed some of the bolder decision making on this record. At a time when music was so distant, it felt important to make an album that sounded hopeful, celebratory, ambitious and beautiful in spite of the heavy subject matter in some of the songs.” Jones adds: “It was almost like we needed to shout louder than before because we felt that there were more barriers between the audience and us. We needed something to transcend that.”

Bear’s Den recently launched a new season of their podcast, which will see the duo exploring the themes around their new album. It is available to stream here.

Having sold out of the exclusive signed colour vinyl (transparent blue) format, they have newly announced a ‘blueprint edition’ of the album on vinyl and cassette, comprised of a baby blue vinyl in transparent packaging and a new cassette with alternative packaging, which are available from the group’s website, alongside a D2C special format personalised vinyl – a strictly limited 500 pressings of a handmade and numbered white label pressings. In addition, there is an exclusive Dinked Edition vinyl – a numbered exclusive format on crystal clear vinyl with an art print which is available to order from the Dinked coalition of indie stores here. The album will also be available as standard vinyl, CD and cassette.

The group has also recently announced details of a full UK, Europe and North America 2022 tour, with tickets available to purchase now from https://www.bearsdenmusic.co.uk/live - including a newly added second date at Brussels Ancienne Belgique on May 10th.

The full list of dates are

• 23rd April - Oslo - Parkteatret
• 24th April - Stockholm - Debaser
• 26th April - Copenhagen - Studie 2
• 28th April – Berlin - Astra
• 29th April - Hamburg - Fabrik
• 1st May - Amsterdam - Paradiso
• 2nd May - Amsterdam - Paradiso
• 5th May - Zurich - Kaufleuten
• 7th May - Cologne - Carlswerk Victoria
• 9th May - Brussels - Ancienne Belgique*sold out
• 10th May - Brussels - Ancienne Belgique* newly added
• 17th May - Bristol - O2 Academy
• 18th May - London - Eventim Apollo
• 21st May - Dublin - Olympia
• 22nd May - Manchester - Albert Hall
• 23rd May - Glasgow - O2 Academy
• 25th May - Newcastle - Newcastle University
• 26th May - Birmingham - O2 Institute
• 27th May - Leeds - Leeds University Stylus
• 8th Sept - Dallas, TX - The Studio at The Factory
• 9th Sept - Austin, TX - Emo's
• 11th Sep - Nashville, TN - The Basement East
• 12th Sept - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
• 14th Sept - Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall
• 15th Sept - New York, NY - Webster Hall
• 16th Sept - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
• 17th Sept - Boston, MA - Royale
• 20th Sept - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall
• 21st Sept - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
• 23rd Sept - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
• 24th Sept - Iowa City, IA - The Englert Theatre
• 25th Sept - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads Saloon
• 27th Sep - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
• 28th Sept - Salt Lake City, UT - The CommonWealth Room
• 30th Sept - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
• 1st Oct - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
• 3rd Oct - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
• 5th Oct - Felton, CA - Felton Music Hall
• 6th Oct - San Francisco, CA - August Hall
• 8th Oct - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour

WATCH THE ‘SHADOWS’ VIDEO HERE