Bear's Den: 2024

The first time Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones of Bear's Den visited FUV was back in 2013 and their subsequent visits included a 2014 concert from Electric Lady Studios. The warmth, sincerity, and soul-stirring beauty of their songs has coursed through all five of their albums, most recently 2022's Blue Hours, as well as their many EPs, including two released in 2023, First Loves and White Magnolias.

With cascading melodies and percetpive lyrics, Bear's Den have not only documented the last decade of their own lives, but provided a soundtrack to that of their many dedicated fans — last autumn, the band sold out their residencies at Brooklyn's Public Records and London's Union Chapel.

For this FUV Live session, Davie and Jones brought along Christof van der Ven, their longtime touring guitarist, and played two songs plucked from their recent EPs, "Evelyn" (First Loves) and "Loneliness" (White Magnolias), as well as the Ivor Novello award-nominated "Above the Clouds of Pompeii" found on their debut album, 2014's Islands.

I also spoke to Davie and Kevin about their long, ever-evolving friendship, and the last decade of Bear's Den existence and what Davie calls the "privilege" of that connection and "getting better at being ourselves." There was also much talk about love, loneliness, and the pain of watching a parent suffer with dementia. Yet, as I discovered, there are still some things that these two good friends don't know about each other, especially when it comes to Kevin's affection for crustaceans — not eating them, but saving them.

[Recorded: 11/15/23; Engineered by Jim O'Hara; produced by Meghan Offtermatt]