The Art Bears' music was often deeply political in content, reflecting the bands' socialist leanings, and frequently experimental. Art Bears were more "song oriented" than Henry Cow, although much of the material that comprised their debut album release was actually written with the intention of being performed by Henry Cow.
Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's last album after disagreements arose over the album's content. Frith and Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while others in the band wanted instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears, with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests. The instrumental material appeared later on the final Henry Cow album, Western Culture (1979).
Hopes and Fears (1978) thus consisted of Henry Cow songs plus new Art Bears material recorded later by Frith, Cutler and Krause to complete the album. Towards the end of 1978, Art Bears returned to the studio to record their first "true" album, Winter Songs (1979). It comprised fourteen short songs composed by Frith around texts by Cutler that were based on carvings on the stylobate of the Amiens Cathedral in France.
In December 1978, Art Bears joined Rock in Opposition (RIO), and toured Europe in April and May 1979. For the tour, they added Peter Blegvad (ex-Slapp Happy, guitar, bass guitar, voice) and Marc Hollander (Aksak Maboul, keyboards, clarinet) to their line-up, and rehearsed at the Cold Storage Recording Studios in Brixton, London before leaving for Italy in late April. They performed in Italy, France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, including an RIO festival on the 1st of May in Milan. Some of the songs recorded during the tour were later added to the album release of Hopes and Fears and The Art Box (2003), a box set of Art Bears material.
The band returned to the studio in 1980 to make one final album, The World as It Is Today (1981), before splitting up. In October 1983 Frith, Cutler and Krause reunited again, this time with Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth from Cassiber, Tom Cora and from Skeleton Crew, and George Lewis from the ICP Orchestra under the name "Duck and Cover". The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983 Moers Festival at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth, but the group only materialised later that year after another commission by the Berlin Jazz Festival. "Duck and Cover" performed a 40-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the Berlin Jazz Festival in October 1983 in West Berlin, and again at the Festival des Politischen Liedes (Festival of Political Song) in East Berlin in February 1984. The second performance was recorded by Rundfunk der DDR (East German Radio) and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the "Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2" LP record. In 1993 Frith, Cutler and Krause worked together again on a song project, "Domestic Stories" (1993) by Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien, with saxophonist Alfred Harth. While similar to Art Bears, the addition of Glandien's electronic music made "Domestic Stories" a distinctly different album.
An Art Bears "review" took place in May 2008 at the world premiere of the Art Bears Songbook at the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. It was performed by Cutler (drums), Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, piano), Jewlia Eisenberg (voice), Carla Kihlstedt (violin, voice), Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion), Kristin Slipp (voice) and The Norman Conquest (sound manipulation). Krause had been unable to participate and Frith and Cutler decided to rework the trio's repertoire for an expanded group, with the voices of Eisenberg, Slipp and Kihlstedt replacing Krause's "eccentric and idiomatic delivery". The project was so-named because Frith and Cutler did not want it to be seen as an Art Bears reunion. According to All About Jazz the Art Bears Songbook was "not just a highlight, but the highlight of the [five day] festival."
The Hermit
Art Bears Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Before the fire
And toasts a fish
Upon a fork
His hand is raised
To sleet and sun
Oblivion
Time passes by:
A snowflake in
A summer sky.
The lyrics of Art Bears' song "The Hermit" paint a picture of a solitary figure, sitting by the fire, roasting a fish on a fork. The hermit is in a state of contemplation, with his hand raised up to the elements of sleet and sun, symbolic of the natural world around him. His shoes are cast aside, and the lyrics suggest that he has truly given himself up to a state of oblivion, reflective of the detachment that comes with solitude.
As time passes by, the hermit is depicted as being in a state of trance-like stillness, with a snowflake floating gently amidst the blue summer sky. This imagery highlights the sense of timelessness and otherworldliness that is associated with the hermit figure. The lyrics leave a lasting impression on the listener, perhaps suggesting that there is great wisdom to be gained by embracing solitude and the natural world.
Line by Line Meaning
The hermit sits
A reclusive person is sitting alone in isolation.
Before the fire
In front of a fire or warmth source.
And toasts a fish
Grilling a fish or cooking it on a fork.
Upon a fork
Using a fork to heat or cook food.
His hand is raised
The person has a gesture of praise or thanks to the surrounding environment.
To sleet and sun
Acknowledging the unpredictable and changing nature of the weather.
His shoes doffed to
Removing one's shoes as a sign of respect or surrender.
Oblivion
In this context, it means disregarding or ignoring the burdens of everyday life.
Time passes by
Moments continue to move forward.
A snowflake in
A metaphor for the passage of time being insignificant compared to the overarching timeline of the universe.
A summer sky
The beauty and fleeting nature of summer compared to the vastness and age of the universe.
Contributed by Alexandra G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@m1llman
I listened to this album repeatedly when it was first released, but I always played this cut last, because nothing could follow it. I was an American white boy in the rural South, a nascent Jew, young, traumatized, with almost nothing to live for. This song, and all the music of Henry Cow, kept me alive and healed me. The power of music, made by people who care, is limitless. This song is sacred and has no borders.
@jhegre
That is quite beautifully put, and so true. I have a similar experience with this music, especially this song.
@_Celador_
I can never forget this song and always come back
It's an old beauty and truth that lays in it
@MegaCirse
Riding in the meadows of the present, you can pick up bunches of flowers and likely one can return with verses of Art Bears and say that one has gained one's time! The more I hear this composer from another age, I appreciate his quality. It is never annoying, creating a variety of stamps with excellent orchestration !
@tytylani3452
Beautiful video for a magic piece
@742iki
The hermit sits Before the fire And toasts a fish Upon a fork His hand is raised To sleet and sun His shoes doffed to Oblivion Time passes by: A snowflake in A summer sky.
@OdedFriedGaon
what a band!!!
@marcfrancoisrouleau
Envoûtant... Magnifique... Musiciens fabuleux...
@davidebrunelli2781
Wonderful!
@irosawzazar3592
Been on astouding gig of skeletons in cracow 84 ...fred just thank of your sound