Bear's Den tackle alcoholism in new music video for 'Hiding Bottles'

Folk rock duo Bear's Den tackle a serious issue in their new music video for 'Hiding Bottles'. The song as well as the visuals show the alcohol addiction of a family member and how it effects the people around them.

The video follows a teenage girl's account of her father's alcohol addiction and the pressure it puts upon herself and her loved ones. It is both inspired by and features quotes from people that have experienced alcoholism in a family member.

Splitting into a 'siding doors' style narrative, we view two parallel worlds in which her life diverts, each with its own pitfalls. The scenes feature the introduction of alcohol to a young son, care-fuelled arguments between family members and withdrawal from family life, all of which touch on experiences that many people are experiencing on a daily basis.

Having personally experienced alcohol addiction in a family member, lead singer Andrew Davie took to spending time at Al-Anon meetings - a charity who supports those with family and friends that struggle with alcohol addiction. Al-Anon bring a sense of community between those who are going through the same difficulties and it's from these meetings that Davie began to write the song 'Hiding Bottles'.

"I think the main thing Al-Anon allowed me to understand was that there are just so many people going through issues caused by having an alcoholic friend, loved one or relative - how many lives can be affected by just one life. For us as a band to work with Rollo [Jackson, director] and be able to make a video that might ring true for other people who could be looking for help or support was something we really wanted to do. The idea that the video could potentially help lead someone to an organisation that has helped me and so many others and could help them just feels really right to us and important", Davie states.

He describes the song as a track "about life with an alcoholic relative. It's an exploration of the inability to reach someone and the isolation that intrinsically creates."

Explaining the duality of the video, director Rollo Jackson says: "Alcoholism explained as temporary or manageable, which created a strange dichotomy within those homes - two versions of the same family, one fighting to keep everything 'normal' and another private version, out of control. Using a full cast of identical twins and in-camera effects, I wanted to explore that idea and highlight the issues."

'Hiding Bottles' is a song from Bear's Den's third studio album So that you might hear me, released in April of this year.