Opening with a candid conversation between two friends sharing a bubblegum cigarette, the lo-fi melody of Bearcubs’ latest track “In The Flowers” shimmers into focus. With gentle, soul-baring vocals, Bearcubs begins to sing poignant yet positive lyrics — where the artist speaks of letting go of the mundanity of a busy world and dreams of a life where he can live off the land.

Accompanied by Thala’s ethereal lyrics that soar across the scaled back production, the track feels like an intimate look into the artist’s most intimate thoughts and dreams — making for a truly meaningful introduction that we will want to hold onto.

Hacked from his new album, Weather Report, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Bearcubs is a force to be reckoned with. To celebrate his recent successes, we spoke with the Berlin-based artist about his inspirations, the making of his latest album and goals for the future.

To stream the track and for the full interview, head below now…

Hey Bearcubs, how are you? How has this past year been for you?
Hey Wonderland, I’m good! Been able to relax for a couple of weeks after releasing my new album, so now I’m feeling refreshed and ready for what’s ahead. For me, the past year has been mainly focusing on finishing up the album and getting the whole visual side like the artwork and music videos together, etc. So my head’s been mainly in music stuff.

The pandemic affected a lot of people in different ways, do you think it affected your creativity?
Yeah for sure I think it kind of forced me into the decision to just make as much music as possible, as there was no touring. So it was a super productive time for me. Also, I think for a lot of people it acted as a sort of reset and made us question what we want out of our work and life. It helped me figure out a bit more about what I’m about and what I can contribute to the music world, I switched up my sound in a certain way to reflect where I’m at now.

And coming out of it and returning to the stage and events, do you feel nervous in any way?
Probably going to feel a bit rusty at first haha. But I think the excitement/the need to play outweighs the nervousness for me. Whatever happens, I can always drink a couple of beers before a show.

Let’s start in the beginning, what sparked the interest in music?
Definitely, my family, my Grandad was a saxophonist in a Jazz band and my mum and dad both play various instruments, so there was always something lying around the house I could pick up and play. That eventually developed into me messing about with tape players and getting into recording and playing in bands with my friends.

And now you’ve dropped your new album Weather Report, first of all, why the name?
It kind of emerged near the end of the writing process, I realized that a lot of the songs had reference to weather in them, so that became a bit of a theme without me intending it. The name Weather Report came out of a feeling of being overwhelmed by world events and being bombarded with all kinds of media on the news, tv, internet etc etc. There’s this disconnect between feeling good in my own life and then witnessing all these extreme things happen around me, that’s why the album has this summery feel but may be obscured by the odd cloud now and then.

And going into it, what was your mindset? Did you have any goals?
I guess to create a sort of dream world people can escape to for a while. I wanted to put a bit more humour and lightness into the music, mainly because that’s the kind of music I want to hear these days. Everything is quite serious at the moment so it’s good to have an antidote to that somewhere I think!

Looking back on it, would you have done anything differently?
Maybe I could have finished it a bit quicker, it’s sometimes easy to get bogged down in the details. But in the end, it represents a time and place in my life, so I’m happy for it to just be what it is.

And who inspires you?
The most inspiring people to me are the ones who completely carve out their own lane and that are always evolving, from recent times people like Tyler the Creator, Toro Y Moi, and Rosalia to name a few. But also I’d have to say my friends and my girlfriend influence me a lot and sometimes act as sounding boards for my new music.

Looking to the future, what are you most excited about?
Without a doubt playing live, I have a lot of new music to play now haha. I’ve got a North American tour kicking off on 19th October, see some of you there!