“Frightened Whispers” by Bear’s Den – A Song Feature

 

     Singles keep dropping from their travel bag as Bear’s Den rushes toward the May 13 release date of their album and the extensive tour schedule of performances of the “Blue Hours” album. “Frightened Whispers” is available today. According to the band:
     “’Frightened Whispers’ is one of our favorites on the record. It’s been through a few iterations and has a really unique DNA as a song. It was a puzzle weaving all the different instrumental counter melodies together but the penny dropped for us when we got the wonderful Matt Douglas involved to play sax. He brought something really magical to the process, we can’t wait for people to hear it!" 
   
     Bear’s Den is the UK Folk Rock duo of Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones. As noted, Matt Douglas (The Mountain Goats, as well as Bon Iver, Josh Ritter, and Sylvan Esso) added saxophone to “Frightened Whispers.” Production magic is from regular Bear’s Den collaborator Ian Grimble. After a short intro, the single euphorically progresses to an instrumental crescendo at 3:22. It’s during this later portion of the single that the sax plays an important role.

     Melodically, “Frightened Whispers” is blissful, but that's a flawed description of the subject matter. The lyrics are included in this post. The “Blues Hours” album does not shy away from difficult subjects. The themes on the album include both self-reflection and mental health, after both members 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.”

 
     Bear’s Den scheduled an ambitious UK and North American tour. The set of U.S. tour dates kicks off in early September and include performances at New York’s Webster Hall, Los Angeles’ Troubadour, Nashville’s The Basement East, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, and San Francisco’s August Hall. For ticket information for the European and North American legs of the Bear’s Den tour, visit https://www.bearsdenmusic.co.uk/live.
 
     “Frightened Whispers” by Bear’s Den

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Website: http://www.bearsdenmusic.co.uk/

Lyrics of “Frightened Whispers” by Bear’s Den
What are you so worried about?
Saying out loud
Scared they're getting close
Are they're getting close to the safe now
 
Confiding in the silence
Whispering with all that violence
Raging through your brain
I was raging all the same
 
You're breaking out
I'm breaking in
You're spoken for
I was spoken down to
You were dreaming in my nightmares
And I'm dreaming in yours
I've been looking for my friend
Since I can't remember when
Now you're nowhere to be found
Left me here on the ground
 
I was afraid of your heart
I was afraid of mine
It's not supposed to be easy, love
A candle still flickers in the dark
I was scared of how I felt
I was scared of what it meant
The cleanest way for this to end
Is with a frightened whisper in the dark
 
Yeah I still fall apart
Frightened whispers in the dark
 
What are you so worried about?
For crying out loud
Scared I'm getting close
Am I getting under your skin now
Confiding in the silence
An orchestra of tiny violins
Playing on insane
At the funeral in your brain
 
You'll live without
I'll live within
You were spoken for
I was spoken down to
You were dreaming in my nightmares
And I'm dreaming in yours
I've been looking for my friend
Since I can't remember when
Now you're nowhere to be found
Left me here on the ground
 
I was afraid of your heart
I was afraid of mine
"It's not supposed to be easy, love"
A candle still flickers in the dark
I was scared of how I felt
I was scared of what it meant
The cleanest way for this to end
Is with a frightened whisper in the dark
 
I was afraid of your heart
I was afraid of mine
"It's not supposed to be easy, love"
A candle still flickers in the dark
I was scared of how I felt
I was scared of what it meant
The cleanest way for this to end
Is with a frightened whisper in the dark
 
Yeah I still fall apart
Frightened whispers in the dark
Yeah I still fall apart
Frightened whispers in the dark