Sea Of Bees - Songs For The Ravens
- Written by Jacob Maxwell
Songs For the Ravens is the début album by Sea Of Bees, the moniker of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julie Ann Baenziger. Its finally seen a release on these shores after being released in the US last year. The downside of this is obviously having to wait to get your hands on a copy of the album but the upside is that Jules is currently over here touring in support of the release and will be gigging up and down the country until the end of the month. But before we get ahead of ourselves; What does a Sea of Bees sound like?
The clear and thoughtful electronic back bone of the latter evokes for me a similar feeling to the Postal Service at their best, along with Hot Chip's lighter, airier moments, with just a touch of Sígur Ros in the marimba work. Its very self assured musically, unafraid of mixing acoustic and electronic, which it does seamlessly. 'Willis' builds gradually, with more percussion and a gently swirling guitar filling in the sound but even as the track fills out it never swamps the vocal, even at its crescendo. This is a wise move, as the vocals deserve to be center stage, throughout the album, as it is Jules' voice which steers the album, keeping it from straying into territory a little too twee, as the personality transmitted keeps you feeling like its all very heartfelt. Her voice is definitely very friendly on the ears though, in this track particularly, to the point where I would not be surprised if the first half of it was to crop up on a television ad for nappies or wet wipes.
This isn't to say that the album is lightweight in any sense, and the counter balance for this dalliance with TV-friendliness comes in the form of the aforementioned 'Marmalade' which is all together more forceful with its brooding storm of guitars and backing vocals, which threaten to engulf the listener in a wall of sound, but remain restrained, reigned in again by the determined vocal focal point. Its an effective balancing act, with the darker, more PJ Harvey-esque side to Sea of Bees complimenting the more Feist-like sugary sweetness exquisitely.
Between the two extremes there is plenty more to comment on though - the first single from the album, 'Wizbot', especially deserves mentioning for it's slow-building beauty and because it contains the most memorable chorus from the whole album. From the solo acoustic outset it feels tense, with a real sense of longing that draws you in as it gradually recruits more instruments before exploding into a break which, with a little more crunch would have been at home on an early Radiohead record. At other points Songs for the Ravens leans more firmly on folk, with the joyous foot-stomping reverie of 'Sidepain', which also has that beautiful trick of sounding like the penultimate track on an album (which it is), and with 'The Gold', another catchy gem, using the tried and tested La La La sing along method to great effect.
For its diversity alone it deserves a place on your shelf next to other well regarded modern folk albums like Fleet Foxes' self titled record and Noah and the Whales The First Days of Spring. While it might not break as much ground as Fleet Foxes or sound quite as weathered and mature as First Days.. it still presents a brilliant snapshot of a confident artist with bags of potential and a voice full of character at the beginning of their career, and that to me is what good débuts are all about.