From Blue Hours to brighter days---
London folk rock band Bear’s Den has finally returned to these shores after some pandemic-related delays, on their Blue Hours Tour, and played a satisfying set at Knuckleheads Garage, hidden within the railway district, in Kansas City, MO.
The evening opened with a brief but well-received set from Izzy Heltai, a Massachusetts-based mid-twenties singer-songwriter, in support of new five-song EP, Day Plan, the follow-up to his 2020 full-length, Father. Heltai’s music has a gentle veneer with some West Coast laid-back influences, but like the headliner, his lyrics can often dig deeper.
Whether coming to terms with his own identity or documenting a pandemic era romance on “Beauty Queen”, the lyrics seem relatable and are delivered with a pleasant artistry. Though accompanied by his full band, the songs were even more poignant when he performed solo, such as he did to finish his half-hour set.
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When the UK folk invasion burst out onto the airwaves just over a decade ago, we became fans of many of the acts, including Bear’s Den and their related Communion Music- a London/Brooklyn artist-based organization that includes a record label, promotions, music publishing and more, and has included a roster featuring Tamino, Sam Fender, Dan Croll, Michael Kiwanuka, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Ben Howard, James Bay, George Ezra, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Daughter, and Highly Suspect, all of whom are WHM favorites.
Communion even put on monthly residencies in a few music-centric major cities, and we looked forward to catching each installment live. Fast forward to an endemic 2022 and Bear’s Den has emerged like the rest of us- shaken, re-evaluating, and moved, but also hopeful and those feelings and more are a core part of Blue Hours, their fifth full-length released in May, that often serves as a mirrored reflection of those pandemic days we’re slowly coming out from. “Blue Hours felt like a name for my own depression”, singer Andrew Davie has said about composing the new record, mostly during lockdown.
And while their ninety-minute set featured several of the new songs, the mood was much more cathartic and joyful, despite any lyrical moments of despair. Their music still shimmers with a polish and lacks the purposeful arena bombast of a Mumford and Sons, maybe making their adherence to their traditional folk roots, ever more authentic.
After beginning with the new album’s title track, the title track of 2016’s Red Earth & Pouring Rain soared, with a gentle but impactful riff, similar to the best War on Drugs songs. We’ve caught them a few times live previous, including in 2014 and again in 2016, and can happily report their mostly mid-tempo folk sound, has been even more perfected.
The band is still officially just a duo (Davie, and sort-of Nick Offerman look-a-like Kevin Jones) but the four-piece band plays seamlessly together like they’ve been a unit for decades. Davie admitted to not only being very happy to be playing live again, but extra-excited to be headlining a place with this unique name and complemented the staff and food.
There was a delicate ache to the new “All That You Are” with Davie lamenting in verse, “I hope you find someone who loves you for all that you are” then adding, “I hope I find someone who loves me for all that I am” in a moment of self-redemption, ending the song vocally off-mic to a hushed audience.
As a band, they’ve always tried to provide an intimacy live and also bridge any gap between performer and audience, and a mid-set highlight was watching all four performers at the stage front, performing 2013’s “Sophie” completely acoustic and off-mic as the crowd listened in rapt attention.
“Stitch in Time” is the band’s brand-new single, with Davie looking back in hindsight, impossibly trying to change an outcome that’s already occurred. Davie ended “Magdalene” singing off-mic as well, giving an additional impact to the closing verse, and “Please Don't Hide Yourself Away” is a very recent collaboration with Jade Bird (of whom we’re a fan and have caught her live previous) for the Apple+ streaming series, Trying.
Momentum increased at the main set would end, with Davie singing, “When you’re really in the moment of something, there’s a sort of heightened sense of urgency” on 2016’s “Auld Wives” and the crowd clapped along to the elegant pain of loss of 2013’s Above the Clouds of Pompeii”.
The encore began with the band and their instruments walking in the darkness, towards the center of the venue- tougher here than in similar halls, as that section was filled with numerous placed tables and chairs, but they found a way, playing 2016’s “Gabriel” in near-dark, with the crowd surrounding them in a small circle, cell cameras held high.
Making their way back to the stage and plugging back in, 2013’s “Agape” would end the evening, a complicated song that teeters between grief and glory, hope and hopelessness, but its jangly banjo and steady beat would help end things with a flourish.
Coming out of the pandemic has meant that everyone has had to process difficult things and reflect on what was lost, and the value of things in everyday life. Bear’s Den and their Blue Hours album mirrors that, and a shared experience of those feelings and more, is the kind of group catharsis, that’s exactly needed at the moment.
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