Bear's Den: "It’s important we're as truthful as possible about difficult things"

British folk-rock duo Bear’s Den are back. We chatted to Andrew Davie about their upcoming album Blue Hours, being honest about the difficult times, and teaming up with animator Mawrgan Shaw to bring their lyrics to life.

It’s not our first time speaking with Bear’s Den. The long-standing CALM supporters, hosted a CALM Christmas Carol back in 2019, donating ticket sales to help us be there, no matter what. Andrew is keen to tell us about his and Kevin Jones’ fourth studio album.

This time around, it’s less about banjo-fuelled bangers and more about wistful wurlitzer pianos and surreal soundscapes. Blue Hours is a piece on self-reflection, with songs on tackling tricky thoughts in the small hours, and the support found in friends and family. Andrew says:

“Kev stayed in a hotel in Morocco called The Blue Hours and told me I had to visit. It was a really nice hotel, but I also thought it was a cool name for an album. I liked the idea that at night when I was finding things difficult, that I was checking into a hotel called Blue Hours. So we got together to work out how musically we could create that headspace.”

Andrew writes as a way to make sense of the world or when he’s finding it hard to say how he’s feeling out loud. It’s a theme that crops up a lot across the album, and his way of taking control over his thoughts:.

“Music’s always been something I've turned to when I've found life difficult to process, or have found my emotions overwhelming. I think it’s because I don’t find communicating as easy as I would like and when you write things down it sometimes gives you perspective on it.”

Andrew is quietly spoken about his experiences with mental wellbeing, but his lyrics bring his thoughts to life on a whole other level. The song Spiders is about being unable to run away from your problems. He says:

“Often, at night you get visited by difficult things in your life. But I like the idea that by naming things, you can control them and soften them somehow. There’s a line in Spiders about it being four in the morning and the spiders are crawling in my mind.

“I was struggling with living in London at the time and I thought moving would solve everything. The song is about trying to escape problems by moving geographically and realising that that’s not how it works unfortunately.”

The band’s lyrics lend themself to animation and the pair have created a whole world within their music, which is why they decided to work with Mawrgan Shaw, a Canadian-based animator to create an evocative short film.

Shadows & Spiders marries together two tracks off the album, following the journey of a couple going through a difficult time. Spiders is about a man struggling with depression, while Shadows is about his partner trying to connect and comfort him. Mawrgan told us more:

“Bear’s Den gave me a lot of creative freedom. We discussed the themes in the songs, my interpretation and their intention. It was really important to them that there was a story about a connection between two people and that we got to see that while someone was struggling with depression and insecurities, the connection between the two people was always really strong.”

The music and animation work seamlessly together, something which came easy for Mawrgan, who was visualising the film from the moment she heard the tracks. Like Andrew, she finds the process of creating art cathartic. She says:

“It’s a release. A way to work through your thoughts and tackle things you’re struggling with. Animation is such an interesting combination of creativity and repetition. There’s hours and hours where you’re just redrawing the same frame, but that process is like meditation for me. It empties my head and when I finish I feel refreshed.”

Mawrgan views each frame as a snapshot of the headspace she’s in at that moment, while Andrew is determined to be honest about the difficult things in his lyrics, highlighting the imperfections that make us human. Andrew says:

“I try to be as true to that experience as I possibly can and not sugarcoat or make something hard sound easier than it was. It’s important that people are as truthful as possible about difficult things and I hope that people who listen to our music find it helpful in the same way that it helps me to process things.”

Aware that people have gone through a lot over the past two years, Bear’s Den are hoping that being honest about the rubbish times, might help other people to do the same. They’re saying it as it is, hopeful that it might help people to reach out when they’re feeling shit. Andrew says:

“Remembering that you're not alone is the hardest thing. We all have moments where we find things really difficult, but often we create this facade that we don't. Call someone you trust and love, who you know has got your back. And if that feels too difficult, there’s other systems in place to help at any stage.

“If we can open up a channel to help people talk then that’s great. We want to be as open as we can to hopefully allow other people to identify with their emotions.”

Keep your eyes peeled for Bear’s Den’s brilliant new album, Blue Hours, from May 13th.

If you need support, check out the CALM Guides, where you can find lots of advice on stuff you might be going through and ways to move forward.

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Photography Credit: Geert Braekers