THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FIRE

////

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FIRE ////

Remixes

///

Remixes ///

Track 1 〰️ At Least I Can Feel

〰️

Track 1 〰️ At Least I Can Feel 〰️

Once upon a time in 2014, Dan and I wrote our first song together as Spirit of the Bear. It’s called “The Well.” It’s a pretty hilarious (in retrospect) 2010s indie dance pop track that our high school brains were very excited about at the time, and many of our friends showed support for the song. As time went on, though, we got kinda sick of it. It’s still out there if you want to hear it, but we keep it relatively secret to new fans. The people who were there when we first put it out and when we were playing it live often still love it and ask for it to this day (looking at you Devon).

When it came time to write this new EP, the first song we came up with was “Wires.” For a little while, we had this joke going where we’d sneak lines or melodies from “The Well” into “Wires” while we were playing it, since we realized at some point that they were in the same key. Eventually that joke turned into a real song - “At Least I Can Feel.” We arranged it in one day and recorded it all together in a single take - something we haven’t done before to this extent. We wanted it to fit the 70s aesthetic of the record while showing a gentler side of our sound. We weren’t even supposed to have a fifth song on the EP, but we really wanted this to be on there.

If you already know “The Well,” you may recognize the ghost of that song in this new one (some lyrics are rearranged, the hook makes an appearance in the piano part, etc.) If you didn’t know “The Well” even existed until now, all you need to know about this new one is that it’s an homage to the fans who have been with us since the beginning. But we hope everyone can enjoy this new version. We think it really reflects how far we’ve come since our high school days, and we can’t thank you enough for joining our story!

LYRICS

Oh, I don’t know where I’m going

But at least I can feel

Like I feel my feet on the cold stone floor

But I can’t stand

Oh, I don’t know where I’m going

But at least I can feel

At Least I Can Feel (Live In A Place)

Track 2 〰️ Wires

〰️

Track 2 〰️ Wires 〰️

Wires has been a long time coming. Back in 2017, when we wrote our song “Run My Mouth,” we started getting excited about sounds that were reminiscent of 1970s pop and disco music. That trend continued in our music lightly for our next couple releases - in 2019 we dropped “Bummer,” and in 2020 we dropped “Summer Snow,” both of which scratched that 70s pop itch for a brief time (“Summer Snow”, weirdly enough, was directly inspired by “The Hustle,” but you’d never know it. We still walk onstage to The Hustle to this day.)

When it came time to record our new EP, we took a listen to the demos we had at the time and realized they all kind of fit that 70s pop mold. Wires was the first song we completed for the EP, and we went HEAVILY into 70s territory (more than we ever have before). We threw everything at the wall - tight, dry drums, disco strings, some glockenspiel, huge background vocals, bongos, and a sax solo recorded by my dad to top it all off (a real full-circle moment for me on a personal level, too, since my dad taught me how to play music in the first place).

This EP also follows a loose storyline, starting with this song. “Wires” marks the (unfortunately very relatable) point in a bad relationship where the fighting gets worse, but the high of pushing through the fight to the other side gives enough reason to keep it going. It’s supposed to be the beginning of the end of something bad, but something that primes you for something better (if any of that makes sense).

Since its release, it has become our most popular song, and we couldn’t be more excited about that. It really feels like the culmination of our 70s pop/disco through-line, and I think the 70s thing may stop here for us. But that feels appropriate, and we’re sending our 70s era out with a bang on this new record!

LYRICS

Don’t leave me here, Don’t leave me hanging

I thought I was in love, But I was just chasing

Some kind of high I got from you lying

But now I’m in the sky and you don’t feel like climbing

I’m falling without a parachute

I’d be so boring if I wasn’t so confused

You’ve got me all unwound, but you know I’ll stay around

Don’t leave me here held up by Wires

You want me to come down, but I’m not a fighter

And that’s all we do, but the more that I fought it

The more I liked the view, ‘til you cut me off it

You got me higher than I’ve ever been, I felt my tears drying off in the wind

I’m floating down just to get hurt again, For you to hurt me again

I’m falling without a parachute

I’d be so boring if I wasn’t so confused

You’ve got me all unwound, I’ll speak if I’m allowed

You’ve got me all unwound, but you know I’ll stay around

ORIGINAL DEMO

Track 3 〰️ Live On The Sun

〰️

Track 3 〰️ Live On The Sun 〰️

As far as the narrative of the EP goes, Live On The Sun is the turning point; the part in the story where the relationship has soured and you’re finally aware of it. I wanted this song to take place during a blinding flash of emotion - a moment where the only feasible option is to leave and burn everything down without much thought to the consequence.

The line that ended up being the hook of the song, “There’s No Such Thing as Fire when I Live On The Sun,” makes this song sort of the title track for the EP, and that was designed in reverse. We knew that we wanted to call the record “There’s No Such Thing As Fire” before we had any lyrics written for any of the songs, and I was determined to fit the line somewhere to more or less justify its existence. Ultimately, I decided it would be the perfect metaphor for an endlessly toxic relationship. It’s a line about numbness. Nothing can hurt you if you’re always getting hurt. There’s no such thing as fire if you live on the sun.

Musically, this song came together very quickly with the help of our beloved ex-bassist Mike Perorazio. It might be our favorite Spirit of the Bear song to date, and of all the songs on this EP is the most indicative of the future of our sound rather than the past.

LYRICS

I packed up everything you gave me - my last donation to the cause

It’s been a while since I left - I just haven’t told you yet

I smile and wait for my applause

I’m losing sleep, I’m coming undone

But you can’t make me tired ‘cause I live on the sun

I’m lost inside the smoke from your gun

There’s no such thing as fire when I live on the sun

I burned a hole through every memory - And walked away without a spark

I thought this time we’d keep the light - but it’s not like me to be right

At least it’s quiet in the dark

I’m losing sleep, I’m coming undone

But you can’t make me tired ‘cause I live on the sun

I’m lost inside the smoke from your gun

There’s no such thing as fire when I live on the sun

Where your flames only blossom into ash

I should confront you but I’m down at the bottom

And you can’t hear me from up there

You’re creeping up and taking over - the smoke is getting to my head

This sour feeling that you left never got me at my best

I wish you were never here

ORIGINAL DEMO

Track 4 〰️ Living Alone

〰️

Track 4 〰️ Living Alone 〰️

Living Alone might be our weirdest song ever. Not that it’s even particularly weird, but for us in the writing process we really got excited about the idea of doing a three-part rock song in the vein of Happiness Is A Warm Gun by the Beatles, and that ended up coming about in a weird way.

Initially, we had the song’s first section in demo form (a snippet of the demo can actually be heard as the intro of the song, just like in Live On The Sun), and we planned to just take that and make it the entire song. Then, when we were trying to write a bridge, Ethan sent me a demo idea that I just stuck onto the end of the “chorus” section because we didn’t have any second verse yet. Ultimately, we decided to use that as a more literally bridge to take us into the slide guitar solo (a first for us) and then the ambient bit leading into the complete beat switch-up. That beat switch kind of came about by accident, but it was actually written specifically for hit song. By that, I mean it wasn’t conceived as a separate song and shoved onto the end of this one - it really was written as the end of this song very deliberately.

Lyrically, this song is also a bridge. It was the last song that had lyrics, and I already knew Live On The Sun would be the third song (an angry relationship ending song) and The More of You The Better would be the fifth (a very happy celebration of new, healthy love). Because of that, I knew I had to cover a lot of ground in this song if I wanted it to fit the story.

The first sections covers the period directly after leaving a toxic situation - you’re alone and having a bit of a crisis. You think you want to find a small place in the suburbs and settle down, meet a new set of people, and begin a new life. I loved the idea of this hyper-specific suburban white house with a red door - just the most generic “adult” living situation - in some imaginary housing development called “The View.” I made that up while riding my bike one day.

As the song goes on, though, you know you’ve made the right decision by leaving and you’re becoming more comfortable with yourself. The middle section is a quick chronicle of meeting someone new, presumably after a while of being alone and reckoning with where your life stands. The new person is exciting, but you remain tentative for understandable reasons. By the time the end section hits, you’re trying to fight this new feeling needlessly, and ultimately succumb to a new love with the hope that it’ll be right for you. I loved the idea of war imagery for this last section - the idea that this fight with yourself if completely needless and destructive. I wanted to use some more vivid imagery than I usually do here (which I think fits with the first section of the song, as well) and landed on this idea of “shredded, tangled earth.” I think it calls to mind something very specific. There’s even a reference to Kurt Vonnegut (my favorite author) in the background vocal part here - the classic line from Slaughterhouse-Five, “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” makes an appearance, which I think further drives home the idea of war as metaphor for personal struggle in a very literal and detailed way.

Of course this is all pretty autobiographical - a lot of the lyrical themes pull from exact experiences I had a few years ago. Now that I’m sitting here having written so much about this song, I’m realizing it may be our most detailed and complex song, and maybe the most thought-out thing we’ve ever done.

LYRICS

I think I wanna settle down (white house, red door in The View)

And live among the construction sounds (something different than I’m used to)

Alone on my suburban throne (I hear the rain painting dots in the road)

I move my car out from underground - Am I crazy or am I just getting old?

Living alone in my paradise - Burning a rose never felt so right

You blame it on me and I blame it on you - but we’re

Still alone - Living alone

‘Til I felt something new - Autumn’s heat

An unsure drop in an empty part of me

________________________________________

Oh - I’m not here to dream

I’m not here to get lost in the moonlight

Falling from the stars, I’ll meet you where you are

I might be better off alone - Too much to hold

Everything was beautiful (and nothing hurt)

Until I pulled back the layers of my tangled earth

Shredded by the war I’m learning not to fight

I swore not to open up, but I think that I might

Oh - to be with you is to be the frost on the window

Warming in the glow - you make me feel at home

I think we’re better off alone together

ORIGINAL DEMO

Track 5 〰️ The More of You The Better

〰️

Track 5 〰️ The More of You The Better 〰️

The corniest love song I think I could ever possibly write. But I think it needed to be that way! I wrote this one so quickly - it was the first song written for the EP, and I initially wrote it off as being TOO corny and too much of a 70s pop pastiche. After we sat and listened through all the demos for the project, though, we thought it could fit, and I’m really glad we pulled it together. It might be our most breezy and fun song to date, not to mention maybe the cleanest production I’ve ever done on any song.

Production-wise, this song also includes the most collaborators we’ve ever had on a song - only appropriate given the song title. We pulled our good friend (and live bassist) Nate Gelfand for strings, a percussionist I love and respect in Max Marsillo, our original bassist and dear friend Mike Perorazio, and two previous collaborators on background vocals with Aaliyah Lashaun and Jack Ellis. Truly the most talent we could possibly pack into this 3 minute song, and I’m so grateful to everyone involved.

Once we landed on a reverse-breakup narrative for the EP, we knew this song needed to fit into the closing spot. This is the end of the road in a positive way, and I don’t think it’s unrealistic or idealistic, either. It represents a healthy new love after years of going through the opposite - a love that can only be found after learning what’s not good for you.

I wanted the lyrics to tie back in with the “fire” theme that’s prevalent on Live On The Sun (and the EP title). This song ended up being the flipside of Live On The Sun’s “sun” metaphor. In this instance, the sun represents good. It’s the warmth and comfort you feel with someone new; more of a nice spring sunshine than a mid-July heatwave. There are references to getting out of the shade and outrunning the snow, and during the bridge, I really wanted to drive home the feeling of never being able to get enough of someone you’re in love with. Like I said, corny, but I had to do it once, and I’m very proud of it!

If you’ve made it this far, we love you and can’t thank you enough for being here. Hope you’ll stick around for what’s to come!