Check out the intriguing video for the new single from folk-rock duo Bear’s Den. Illustrator, animator and visual artist Ryan Anderson lends his distinctive style to ‘Blue Hours’, as we follow a character’s search for a connection. It’s an absorbing video with a smart twist at the end and is a fine piece of art all on its own. The song itself is driving and anthemic with euphoric layers swirling over urgent rhythms. On ‘Blue Hours’, Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones lean towards a more electronic feel than other recent singles, which reinforces the dreamy introspection of the song.
Davie says of the single: “Fundamentally ‘Blue Hours’ is a song about communicating with someone that’s hard to reach. It’s this idea of trying to have a conversation with someone through one-way glass, where they can’t even see you and there’s a real disconnect with how you’re communicating. On one level, it’s also an internal thing, where you’re trying to get through to yourself. I think the act of writing songs, or even trying to write anything, is the act of trying to communicate, so I think there’s something in that which is interesting.”
The song is the title track from the pair’s forthcoming album, due for release on 13th May. Davie and Jones have both suffered from mental health issues in the past and emotional wellbeing and self reflection are at the heart of the new album’s themes. Davie explains: “It’s the main overarching theme with this record. 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…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.” Although the new songs cover a range of sensitive, difficult issues, they are, ultimately, hopeful as Jones describes: “We wanted this to be a celebration of music. 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. 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.” And transcendent this is. Enjoy.
