Derry collective Little Bear formed just over a year ago and since then have been on a rapid and beautiful upward spiral. Little Bear articulate breath-taking musical soundscapes over intricate rhythmic patterns, grounded by heart-felt and deeply personal lyricism. See them headline Whelan's on Thursday 3rd October. Tickets €12 incl. booking fee are on sale from Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster outlets this Friday.
Cousins Mark and Ryan met songwriter Steven at a local college music performance course in 2004 and have written together ever since. Multi-instrumentalist Conor Mason joined the band mid-2012 and since then the band have not looked back. Steven picks up, “I had a few tunes that I was writing in my bedroom that were quite similar in sound and worked perfectly as a set. Conor mixed those initial demos and he became a full time member soon afterward.”
Steadily building a reputation as one of this island’s hardest working live bands, Little Bear has recently shared stages with Ryan Bingham and Hudson Taylor. As last minute additions to the Derry leg of Other Voices the quartet were delighted to be in the company of Laura Marling, Daughter and Villagers. Phenomenal, passionate live sets have attracted capacity crowds and a growing legion of die-hard Derry fans. After featuring regularly on BBC Radio Ulster’s Across The Line, Huw Stephens made the band’s track ‘The Devil Is A Songbird’, his BBC Introducing Track Of The Week, heaping praise on its emotional and poignant lyrics. The band’s first release on Smalltown America is an epic Double-A ‘Night Dries Like Ink / Killer’.
