Bear's Den deliver the poignant short film 'Spiders & Shadows'

THE ANIMATED VIDEO BY MAWRGAN SHAW FEATURES FIVE-THOUSAND INDIVIDUALLY DIGITALLY HAND-DRAWN AND ANIMATED IMAGES

WATCH ‘SPIDERS & SHADOWS’ HERE

PRE-ORDER NEW ALBUM ‘BLUE HOURS’ HERE

LIMITED EDITION BABY BLUE VINYL + CASSETTE AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW

EXTENSIVE UK, EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA TOUR SET FOR 2022

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 – now unveil the poignant and moving short film ‘Spiders & Shadows’, combining the visuals from their two recent singles.

Created by accomplished animator Mawrgan Shaw, the two original videos have now been brought together into one beautiful composition to really encapsulate and bring to life some of the core themes of their forthcoming album, and features over 5000 digitally hand-drawn and animated images. While ‘Spiders’ focused on the male character’s struggle with depression, 'Shadows' turns to what his female counterpart is experiencing as she tries to comfort him throughout his ordeal.

Watch ‘Spiders & Shadows’ HERE

Speaking about the new video, Mawrgan said, “When approached by the band to create not one but two music videos that would in turn be one story, I was very moved and excited by the idea. The songs deal with heavy and complex issues and experiences; that of suffering and knowing loved ones who suffer from depression. Bear’s Den were very clear on the two pieces needing to relate to one another, but beyond that I was very lucky to be given creative freedom.

“The idea of the abstract memory space that he travels through in Spiders came to me as a way of introducing these themes without specifically stating what the story is about. I wanted to provide a degree of interpretation that each person could bring to the piece. For me, Spiders is the story of someone becoming lost in their own mind. Feeling trapped by negative thoughts and memories, but rather than addressing them, attempting to run away from those feelings, leading them to spiral into a worse place than before.

“As we transition into Shadows, the focus switches. We journey with two people, one who is clearly fighting the negativity in their mind, and the other who is trying to be there for them as best they can. When one person becomes literally lost in their own thoughts, it is up to the other to find a way back to them. She journeys through the memories, fighting through the pain to catch him just before he falls. It was really important to me that the message came through - that healing isn’t a linear process, and needing help is never something to be ashamed of. There’s a triumph in the music of Shadows that gave me shivers the first time I listened and it was that feeling I was reaching for in this work.”

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 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

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 Place

FOLLOW BEAR’S DEN

lorraine longMarch 16, 2022