Bear’s Den – “Islands”
With it’s banjo fuelled doleful folk tales, it is a little suprising to learn that Bear’s Den come to us via the bustling metropolis of London.
Sounding somewhat reminscent of the likes of Midlake and Great Lake Swimmers, their debut release Islands feels like something conjured up in the remote wilderness.
No doubt it is the ubiquitous banjo so prominent on tracks such as ‘Agape‘ and the fragile ‘Above The Clouds Of Pompeii‘ that is largely responsible for this.
The delicate beauty of ‘Isaac‘ has a distinctly medieval aura, lulling us into a contemplative trance before ‘Thinking Of England‘ ups the tone somewhat with handclaps and the album’s first real bursts of distorted guitar. It is difficult not to be swept up in the palpable pangs of nostalgia as frontman Andrew Davie asks a long lost friend “Do you lie back and think of England?’.
‘When You Break‘ protrudes above the rest as the standout track on Islands. It is a mesmerising epic that is as beautiful as it is intense. Revolving around a simple yet hypnotic guitar hook, a myriad of guitar and synth sounds coalesce to construct steadily ascending tension. Here Davies flexes his lyrical muscles, firstly with “you keep begging for forgiveness but you don’t think you’ve done wrong”, then, as the song reaches it’s dramatic crescendo “won’t you lay here by my side, I want to fuck away all my fears”. Such raw honesty is always refreshing.
Pivoting around the strong writing of Andrew Davie, and with polished accompaniment from Kev Jones and Joey Haynes, Islands is a classy debut offering of plaintive folk rock. Comprising of ten tracks, it is void of filler and comes in at a comfortably digestible length. Whilst it is instantly gratifying, further reward comes from repeat listens.
He can also be found clinging to his youth on a skateboard or wandering aimlessly through the bush.
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