Bear's Den unveil the final album preview track 'Frightened Whispers', lifted from their forthcoming new LP 'Blue Hours'
Following on from the huge support for their previously unveiled singles ‘All That You Are’, ‘Spiders’, ‘Shadows’ and most recently ‘Blue Hours’, folk-rock duo Bear’s Den – made up of Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones – now share the final preview of their upcoming studio album ‘Blue Hours’, which is set for release on May 13th via Communion Records. The album release is supported by an extensive UK, Europe and North America tour which kicks off on April 23rd in Oslo and includes a night at London’s Eventim Apollo on May 18th.
Channelling more of that rich and euphoric direction they have showcased throughout the run-up to their latest full-length, the new single ‘Frightened Whispers’ offers another warm and vibrant dose of bold and powerful songwriting. Rising to a crisp and soaring crescendo, capped off perfectly with additional saxophone from Matt Douglas (Bon Iver, Josh Ritter, Sylvan Esso), this final offering before the full release marks a strong and confident addition, brimming with flair and passion throughout.
Speaking about the new song, they added, "Frightened Whispers is one of our favourites on the record. It’s been through a few iterations and has a really unique DNA as a song. It was a puzzle weaving all the different instrumental counter melodies together but the penny dropped for us when we got the wonderful Matt Douglas involved to play sax. He brought something really magical to the process, we can’t wait for people to hear it!"
Produced by regular collaborator Ian Grimble, themes on this new album 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.”
To mark the recent release of album title track, a ‘Blue Hours cassette’ is available to pre-order now, which has been created using stills from the Blue Hours video. This is available alongside the recently announced ‘blueprint edition’ of the album on vinyl and cassette, comprised of a baby blue vinyl in transparent packaging and a 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.
Bear's Den will be hosting a series of in-store events across the UK from May 13th-17th, where fans can see exclusive stripped back acoustic performances of the new record and some old favourites!
- Fri 13th May - Rough Trade East, London, 7pm
- Sat 14th May - Vinilo, Southampton, out-store at 1865, 7pm
- Sun 15th May - Truck, Oxford, 2pm
- Sun 15th May PM - Sound Knowledge, Marlborough, out-store at Royal Oak, 7.30pm
- Tues 17th May - Rough Trade, Bristol, 12.30pm
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
UK & EUROPEAN DATES
- 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 SOLD OUT
- 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 EXTRA DATE
- 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
- NORTH AMERICAN DATES
- 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
The full album track list is
- New Ways
- Blue Hours
- Frightened Whispers
- Gratitude
- Shadows
- All That You Are
- Spiders
- Selective Memories
- On Your Side
- All The Wrong Places
