Bear's Den - Tuesday 12th February 2013 - The Ruby Lounge

Agape - a.ga.pe - Greek noun, one of the "four loves", a sacrificial love felt for one's children, spouse, siblings. A love that is divine and unconditional.

Bear's Den are Andrew Davie, Kev Jones and Joey Haynes: I've written about this band a few times here before, I've listened to "Pompeii" lots over the last few months and can't quite remember where I found it. With the upcoming release of their EP "Agape", I've started to listen to them more and more and went to see them play at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester this week.

Support came in the form of Honey Feet, a band I think are Northern Irish made up of the odd and surprisingly perfect combination of a vocalist/flautist, guitarist and saxophone player. Their music they admitted was "miserable" except it's great, seeming to combine Gaelic folk with jazz and choral blues, elements of joy in there, despite finishing with a song about cannibalism. Joe Banfi followed, a beautiful guitarist similar in style to Laura Marling and Ben Howard, his voice is so strange and the addition of slight reverb effects on the microphone gave it an almost eerie level of distance and grace. He played a quieter, softer cover of Nirvana's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", and original songs, including lovely "Olive Tree" and "Nomads", from a recent EP of his, which is dark and ghostly as it is gorgeous.

Bear's Den took to the stage, opening with "Agape", the lively and reminiscent title track from their newest EP, full of life and heart. Like so many folk-rock bands, blossoming out of this fast developing genre,  Bear's Den are a whole when they play; they're just perfectly in time and in sync, make a lot of eye contact, and just seem to know these songs and each other in and out. It's something you notice in Noah and the Whale, in Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, and the Mumfords of course, that sense of connection through music.

They are, most of the time, a rhythm guitarist who is also on vocals. Their drummer is also their bass player, sometimes the two at once, and their lead guitarist switches between this and banjo, all of this making extraordinary amounts of noise and atmosphere for three people.

"Isaac", from their new EP, is completely beautiful, a message of devotion. "A father's love must be earned" - it's full of uncertainty as much as it is full of love. Their music is foot-stomping, heart-warming folk, their lyrics rich and riddled with tales. "A Year Ago Today" talks of standing outside a courtroom beside someone, a song about family and pride.

"Pompeii" is about the loss of a family member, talking of both the dark and the light sides of grief. The band seemed genuinely surprised when they announced they were about to play "Pompeii", and the crowd cheered, saying it was so strange to them that people know these songs. Some songs are just meant to be heard and played in a crowd, however big or small as long as people are all feeling it at once, and it was incredible to be a part of that in this little bar, everyone singing like a mantra;

"Don't cry, hold your head up high,
She would want you to, she would want you to."

Bear's Den's EP "Agape" is released this March. There's still dates left for them to play on their UK tour and they're headed to the States to support Mumford and Sons this summer, more information avaliable from their Twitter.