Bearcubs reflects on moving forward before the spark fades
Bearcubs’ latest release, “Take Me Home,” lands somewhere between tension and comfort—a track that pulls from late-night energy without leaning too far into euphoria or melancholy. It’s slick but emotionally blurry, designed for the moment the lights dip and the night shifts gears. The track weaves sharp production with nostalgic synth work, carrying a subtle indie undercurrent through its rhythmic pulse. Out May 30, it sets the tone for what feels like a more intuitive chapter in Bearcubs’ evolving sound.
Built on instinct and hesitation in equal measure, “Take Me Home” is not a high-concept anthem—it’s a moment captured and looped. That ties directly into how Bearcubs thinks about finishing music: not as an endless edit cycle, but as honoring the original spark before it fades. In this interview, he reflects on that balance, the projects that never quite clicked, and why letting go is often what moves things forward.
Do you believe a track is ever truly finished?
Yeah I think so, there comes a point where something just feels finished. Obviously remixes, covers, reinterpretations get made later but then they are something more like a sibling to the original track.
I think it used to be a bit more clear that something was done back in the day when a lot of music was recorded live and captured onto physical media like tape and then eventually vinyl. Nowadays we have access to every effect, level and arrangement and we can go on tweaking something forever.
With my process I try to respect the decisions I made when initially making a track, like I was taking a photograph of that moment, otherwise it’s like I’m trying to fiddle with the truth of something.
What’s your process for calling something done?
It’s definitely a feeling that nothing needs to be added or removed, otherwise it loses some kind of harmonious balance. Like the duration is as long as it needs to be for that specific song, nothing else needs to be explored without overwhelming the core ideas of the track. I usually have a playlist of songs I have made that I just listen to every now and then over a period of months or even a year.
Then it always becomes clear to me which tracks still feel fresh and nothing jumps out too much as being distracting or unnecessary. Sometimes it’s hard to see that without having some distance and perspective from a song.
It’s also tricky though because I think it’s important to balance a song being well constructed and still having imperfections or idiosyncrasies that give it life. I think that’s often the most beautiful and interesting part of the music, it’s the human quality that gives soul to a song.
Have you ever gone back and changed something after releasing it?
No never after releasing. For me the release is definitely the cut-off point where I let go and the song goes from being something I made to just being something in the world that exists and will become its own thing. I have gone back and reworked songs after I thought an album was finished but pre-release, but in hindsight it never really made the music better, just different and maybe slightly corrupted in a way.
The only exception would be when I have made some ambient rework of a track or edits for the club.
What’s one project you never released because it never felt complete?
There were many over the past years. There were times when I almost released a Bearcubs single but then changed my mind at the last moment because it didn’t feel right—either because something wasn’t good enough or the sound wasn’t a direction I wanted to follow anymore. So those songs are now either sitting on my hard drive or I try to find a home for them in a different project, like sometimes with another artist. I made a guitar-based EP during the release of my album Weather Report that I still really like, but it just felt too far away from the Bearcubs world to be released, so it was put on hiatus.
Maybe one day I go back to that and release it under a different name or something, we’ll see.
How do you know when to let go and move on?
I try to remind myself that until something you are proud of is released it’s hard to move on from it. I like to be pushing myself forward and to try and move into new spaces, so that means I have to be quick and get things done while the initial energy is still there. Once the spark is lost with a song it’s harder to stand behind it when it’s released.
What mindset helps you avoid perfectionism?
Focusing on the craft being why I do it. I try to remain playful in the way I make music—there is always mystery in how things come together and I never quite know what I am doing in the moment. I think that keeps it exciting and allows room for error and imperfections, because at the end of the day you are just trying to explore and express yourself, and of course that is never going to be perfectly presented and fully logical.
A bit of the logical mind comes in later for cleaning up stuff and structuring things so they can be easier understood, but I always hope the initial chaos shines through.
What has finishing taught you about your own standards?
That they are high but not too high—that kind of works well for me personally because I think I’m naturally a bit lazy. It’s not like I’m exploring every angle of every song until it’s the best it can possibly be. I wish I was more like that but I see the songs more as snapshots of different times in my life.
The music I like to listen to always has some kind of edge or rawness that makes it somehow more endearing to me. In the end I try to go with my gut—if it feels complete how it is then it’s ready.
