Message To Bears conjures elemental wonder on breathtaking new single “River Calls”

On his latest offering, London-born, Bristol-based composer Message To Bears (aka Jerome Alexander) crafts a sonic landscape that feels less like a song and more like a place — one shaped by memory, melancholy, and quiet reverence for the natural world.

“River Calls”, the final single before the release of Alexander’s forthcoming album Tired Eyes, Waking Hearts (out July 18 via Lost Birds Records), is a masterclass in restraint. Built around a gently plucked acoustic guitar line, the track unfolds like the slow unfurling of dawn mist across water. Wordless vocal harmonies hover just beneath the surface, their ghostly timbre lending the track a near-sacred weight. Shimmering pads and tactile percussion gradually enter the frame, transforming the song into something softly kinetic — like light dappling across a forest floor.

There’s an organic precision to Message To Bears’ work that situates him firmly within the lineage of ambient-folk innovators like Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, and Novo Amor, but also nods to the modern classical minimalism of Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds — both of whom Alexander has supported in live settings. “River Calls” feels like a culmination of this musical identity: ambient textures dissolve into pastoral soundscapes, orchestral flourishes gently breathe in and out, and time seems to stretch and suspend.

“Influenced by the primal pull of nature, building, swelling and finally offering release and quiet comfort in uncertain times.”

It’s this ability to collapse genre and mood into something emotionally immersive that has made Alexander’s music so quietly indispensable — from festival stages to Netflix soundtracks, and even cult video games like Life is Strange. “River Calls” is no exception: it doesn’t demand your attention, but it rewards those who choose to listen closely, offering a rich, enveloping sense of peace in an increasingly chaotic world.

With over 200 million streams to his name and a reputation for consistently spellbinding compositions, Message To Bears continues to prove that music, when built from a place of sincerity and subtlety, can still move mountains — or at least make them shimmer in the half-light.

Watch the official video for "River Calls" now:

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