Bear's Den reveal Tennessee Williams inspired song "Summer & Smoke"

After recently announcing their new EP First Loves, the first new collection since their highly-praised fourth studio album Blue Hours and their original soundtrack for the Apple TV+ series Trying last year, Bear's Den continue to preview their upcoming EP with their new single "Summer & Smoke".

Following on from the previously unveiled lead track "Evelyn" – which was premiered on Jo Whiley's Radio 2 show and is accompanied by a Mahogany Session, shot at Zermatt festival in the Swiss Alps – "Summer & Smoke" looks to expand on the EP's theme of tragic love.

Principal songwriter Andrew Davie explains, ""Summer & Smoke" is inspired by the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. The play centres on a young love that cannot quite work out. Two people who fundamentally are drawn to each other but due to timing and their opposing, shifting, world views cannot be together. I was really inspired after seeing the play and the unresolved tension of the story brought up a lot of feelings around desertion and loneliness that I could relate to from early relationships in my life."

"Some of my early memories of love feel wrapped up in other feelings of shame or guilt. This song to me is about falling in love, trusting and confiding in someone only for them to disappear just when you think you've found them. A metaphor underpins the song of sharing that intimacy over a cigarette, trusting someone enough to fall asleep in their arms but then the loneliness of waking up alone to a house that's on fire."