Bridget Kearney – the bassist and founding member of Lake Street Dive – released her solo single “Don’t Think About The Polar Bear” across all platforms. Accompanied by an animated music video.
The video was created by Mertcan Merbilek and Yasemin Yasu, and its deep winter aesthetic is perfectly timed for the holiday season.
A founding member of Lake Street Dive and writer of some of their most enduring songs, like “Good Kisser” and “Hypotheticals,” Bridget Kearney is known for writing smart, unexpected lyrics and melodies that instantly glue themselves to the inside of one’s brain. “I’m really fascinated by the layering of emotions in song,” says Kearney, “it’s a special art of complexity in miniature, where it’s possible within three and a half minutes you can make someone feel loneliness and gratitude and humor at the same time, and also make them want to dance.”
Her work outside of Lake Street Dive has been extensive and exploratory. She has released two solo albums as well as an album and an EP with producer Benjamin Lazar Davis, both recorded in Accra, Ghana in collaboration with Ghanaian musicians. In the last year she’s played bass for pop icon Ed Sheeran, folk darling Aoife O’Donovan, indie rocker Margaret Glaspy, country artist Bella White and Brazilian singer Tiago Iorc. This stylistic diversity is evident in her solo recordings as well. “I’m not really thinking about genres at all when making music,” she says. “It’s all about the fundamental building blocks of music and the way it all makes you feel.”
Her latest collaboration is with Los Angeles producer Dan Molad (Lucius, Buck Meek). “I heard Dan’s production of Buck’s song ‘Halo Light’ and immediately became obsessed with it and listened to it like 400 times. It was so dynamic and layered and tugged so deeply at my heartstrings. I thought, ‘I want to make music like that.'”
“Don’t Think About The Polar Bear” is a sad, funky song about being bad at meditating, trying not to think about your ex-partner and a metaphorical polar bear, and is a reflection on the psychological phenomenon known as “Ironic Process Theory.” The phenomenon is otherwise known as the “white bear problem” because of this Dostoevsky quote:
“Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”
What do you think of her new single?
