I remember once reading that nearly everyone unfortunate enough to lose an arm or a leg experiences what’s known as a “phantom limb”. It’s so inconceivable that we can just carry on without such an important part of ourselves that our brains simply can’t process it. Even years after the fact it feels like there’s something still there. I’m of the mind that a similar sensation takes hold after a break-up. When those very deepest of connections that we form – the kind where the other person has your heart completely and becomes part of your whole identity – get severed, it’s hardly surprising that it feels like losing a part of ourselves. ‘This Bird Has Flown’ deftly deals with those phantom threads that remain. How that person remains at the forefront of your thoughts long after their gone. How they’re the first person you think of whenever you have news to share, how all your hopes and dreams of the future still contain an empty silhouette of them, and how some part of you deep down will always leave a light on for them to come back. With his debut single, Bear’s Den founding member Joey Haynes (under the moniker John Revelle) traces those tethers while channelling his inner Neil Young. With its gospel tinged chorus and soft twangs of banjo, this timeless slice of Americana will fittingly stay with you for a long while.