Red Earth & Pouring Rain Bear's Den

• 1Red Earth & Pouring Rain04:52
• 2Emeralds04:30
• 3Dew On The Vine05:03
• 4Roses On A Breeze05:21
• 5New Jerusalem04:13
• 6Love Can't Stand Alone05:27
• 7Auld Wives04:39
• 8Greenwoods Bethlehem05:33
• 9Broken Parable06:12
• 10Fortress05:22
• 11Gabriel04:05
• 12Napoleon05:26
• Total Runtime01:00:43

Info for Red Earth & Pouring Rain

London-based alt-rock band Bear’s Den made one of their first ventures onto our record players in 2013 with their highly acclaimed EP Agape. It’s also been two years since their debut album Islands was released, and both fans and critics alike have awaited new material longingly. We’ve been fortunate enough to get our hands on a preview copy of the band’s new album, Red Earth & Pouring Rain, and thought we’d give some insight as to what to expect when it’s released on the 22nd of July.

Opening (and titular) track ‘Red Earth & Pouring Rain’ begins with swirling riffs, which introduce the velvet tones of lead singer Andrew Davie; the overall feel is euphoric and hopeful, contributed to by layered percussion and electric guitar. Davie asks the listener “Don’t you remember love?” before describing an image of passion in the pouring rain, playing on all the senses.

Hardened fans of Bear’s Den will be glad to know that the band has returned to their established soft-natured and positive mood – ‘Dew on the Vine’ describes how there’s always a trace of relationships left behind, whilst harmonies and guitars blend together seamlessly – just as always. However, the overly drawn out instrumental end to the song that includes a slow fade is a little predictable and lacks creativity.

Many of the tracks on the album begin and end with these long instrumental build-ups or fades. ‘Love Can’t Stand Alone’ is no different – yet this track features a long passage where the vocals take centre stage. Limited accompaniment aside, the echoing and reverberating vocals are incredibly poignant, talking of harnessing inner strength.

Red Earth & Pouring Rain’s final track ‘Napoleon’ is equally well put together. Once more the vocals and lyrics are strong, and are matched by the band’s choice of accompaniment, but the song fails to gather momentum. It makes for incredibly pleasant listening, but unfortunately little more. Much the same can be said for the album as a whole: Bear’s Den continue to showcase their instrumental strengths, but everything feels very safe. With music nowadays being so readily available, it’s becoming far harder to be original and push boundaries. So I acknowledge the difficulty of the task at hand, and I’m sure that many people will dote upon Red Earth & Pouring Rain. For me, though, it just misses that extra something that would tie it all together – something impossible to place or describe, and something that artists can spend years trying to discover. Red Earth & Pouring Rain is a good album – but it’s not one that quite stands out.

Bear's Den
Taking a cue from earnest, pastoral folk-rockers like Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers, and Stornoway, London alt-country/indie folk band Bear's Den rose to U.K. chart success with their 2014 debut album Islands. Expanding their international reach through heavy touring, they reaped the benefits on their more pop-driven follow-up, 2016's Red Earth & Pouring Rain, which performed well across Europe, paving the way for 2019's So That You Might Hear Me.

Bear's Den formed in 2012 around the talents of ex-Cherbourg members Andrew Davie (vocals, guitar) and Kev Jones (vocals, guitar, drums) and banjoist/singer Joey Haynes. The group honed their chops on tours with contemporaries like Of Monsters and Men, the Smoke Fairies, and Matt Corby before securing the opening slot for the Mumford's 2012 performance at London's massive O2 Arena. They issued a pair of debut EPs, Without/Within and Agape, through the Communion label the following year. In 2014, the trio entered the studio with Ian Grimble to record their debut album, Islands. Released toward the end of the year, the album hit the U.K. albums chart in the Top 50 and album track "Above the Clouds of Pompeii" was nominated for an Ivor Novello award in early 2015. That year also saw the band head out in support of the release with tours across the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. At the beginning of 2016, Haynes announced he was leaving the band to spend more time with his family; Jones and Davie continued on.

In July of that year, Bear's Den released their sophomore album, Red Earth & Pouring Rain. Produced once again by Grimble, it fared even better than their debut, charting well around Europe and reaching number six at home in the U.K. Following several years of touring and writing, the band decamped to the U.S., recording their third LP in Seattle with producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, the Shins). Heralded by a pair of singles in early 2019, So That You Might Hear Me was slated for release in April of that year.

This album contains no booklet.