She Keeps Bees - Nests

  by Anthony Middleton

published: 3 / 7 / 2009

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Review

'Nests' is music stripped back to the bare essentials, shorn of all decoration and boiled to thick, messy, swampy visceral essence. With the most basic blues guitar and spare drumming, singer Jessica Larrabee’s wailing vocals are given free reign. Said guitar was apparently found in a flat previously once occupied by Satanists, while the amp heard on the album cost five bucks. And it shows, in a good way. I am sure She Keeps Bees would not pretend that the guitar work is particularly sophisticated or challenging, though that would be missing the point. What is found here, and what suffices, is the most primordial licks and riffs, which give room for Larrabee’s sub-Joplin singing to remain at the fore. They may be part of the Brooklyn invasion, but She Keeps Bees, in keeping with their return to the source philosophy, are very much ploughing the blues here. Occasionally, as 'Bones are Tired' this is without even the basic backing, creating an atmosphere of slave spiritual. Drummer Andy Laplant (The names suggest a Southern connection) remains discreet, most of the time for Larabee’s guitar and singing. White Stripes gender reversals seem to be all the rage, what with the Ting Tings and now She Keeps Bees. Ok, I can’t think of another, so the rage may be some way off. Along with the desire to remain unadorned, the songs are nothing if not brief, only one coming in at over three minutes and some barely two. This shows a degree of self-belief; they obviously do not feel they have to keep pressing home the point again and again. The songs are sexy, though without being the slightest bit suggestive. But. There’s always a but. While I have listened to this repeatedly, at times I was unaware of when my car CD player had indulged in its annoying habit of simply starting an album again without asking. The whole thing is impressive, but sort of washes over you in a bluesy wave. Some songs could well form the chorus or middle eight of others. This is not a criticism, more of an observation that the album is a whole; evocative and gutsy. Sitting here in deepest south London in the sweltering heat, I can nearly smell frying grits and gumbo.

Track Listing:-

1 Ribbon
2 Wear Red
3 Release
4 Gimmie
5 Get Gone
6 My Last Nerve
7 Bones Are Tired
8 Focus
9 You Can Tell
10 Strike
11 Cold Eye

Label Links:-

http://namesrecords.com/
https://twitter.com/namesrecords