Advertisement
Ever since SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE released their self-titled debut in 2014, they'vedeveloped a reputation for being your favorite band's favorite band. Theirs is the music ofimmersion, of confrontation, the kind that makes a listener stop and wonder, "How are theyeven doing that?" And as the years wear on, that sense of bafflement has made room forSPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE to quietly but steadily ascend, with their most recent album,2018's Hypnic Jerks, leaving them poised on the precipice of wider recognition.On April 9th, SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE will release their fourth album and Saddle Creekdebut, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH. The album signals new chapters for the band onmultiple fronts, being the first to feature their new three-piece lineup, as well as the first tobe entirely self-recorded and produced. Guitarist/vocalist Zack Schwartz andbassist/vocalist Rivka Ravede are now joined by new member Corey Wichlin, amulti-instrumentalist who relocated from Chicago to the band's home territory ofPhiladelphia last year. In the spring of 2020, the trio began to write their new album at adistance by emailing files back and forth. "The process of making this album was basicallythe exact opposite of our experience creating Hypnic Jerks," Schwartz explains. "We had torecord that in seven days, because that was the studio time we had, whereasENTERTAINMENT, DEATH was made over the course of three, four months."An abundance of time wasn't the only difference. Recording remotely offered the band anincentive to experiment with new possibilities for their sound, resulting in an album that isunlike any SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE has released before. Once the band finishedrecording and mixing the album digitally, they mastered it to tape, lending the collection atextured, dimensional quality. "We knew we wanted to use some new instrumental elementson this album," Wichlin says. "We're not going fully electronic," Schwartz adds, "But guitar,bass, drums just get kind of monotonous."ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH opens with a sonic squall, an abstract composition thattransitions into the brisk highway meditation "ENTERTAINMENT." As a listening experience,the album is a persistent exercise in the bait-and-switch, in what the band describes as aconscious effort to draw the listener deeper into their mystifying manufactured landscape.Take "GIVE UP YOUR LIFE," a sprawling track that drops two semitones from beginning toend, a cheeky mastering decision that would fool anyone trying to play along. "There aresome bizarre tunings on this album," Schwartz says while reflecting on the process thatwrought the single "IT MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME." "That one started out as a pretty normalrock song, but then we heavily fucked with it to make it feel more discordant." "Now itsounds like drowning," Ravede adds.Though ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH doesn't cohere in a single, unifying theme, the bandsamples old obscure commercials throughout, many of which guided the process of writinga song instead of serving as an appendage. Schwartz describes his songwriting process asa stream-of-consciousness, while Ravede asserts that she doesn't typically write vocal partswith any specific intention in mind. "When I write, the narrative usually doesn't present itselfuntil after the song is done. And even then, it depends on how the listener interprets thewords," she reflects. Regardless of how dreamlike SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE's lyrics canbe, reality rears its head throughout ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH. "THE SERVER ISIMMERSED" is perhaps the poppiest song on the album, but it borrows inspiration fromSchwartz's day job working in the food service industry. Lyrically, it tracks the monotony ofthe day-to-day, inducing hypnosis until all three band members begin to sing, snapping thelistener out of the spell.If there's a song on ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH that best encapsulates what SPIRIT OFTHE BEEHIVE is all about, it's "THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO," a track thatilluminates the growth that this band has undergone since their foundation to now. The songwrestles between the sublime and the monstrous as Ravede's feather-light vocals areovertaken by Schwartz's strained howl, underscored by shattering live drums that recall theband's scrappy origins. "This song draws on some of the sonic aesthetic of SPIRIT OF THEBEEHIVE's old records and aligns those sounds with the electronic instrumentation we'vebeen exploring," Wichlin says. ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH isn't a metamorphosis, it's simplythe newest iteration of a longstanding project. "There's a line in the Bee Gees documentarythat I think applies to us. I'll paraphrase: 'We may not have always connected, but wealways stuck around,'" Ravede says. Schwartz jumps in, "SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE: we'restill here."Disclaimer:
The event listed here is purely for informational purposes. All the details such as venue, date/time, artist information, etc., are subject to change.
This event is not associated with or sponsored by AllEvents, but it may be of interest to you. You can explore more such events with us at AllEvents.
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Deaf Institute, The Deaf Institute, Manchester, EN, United Kingdom
Tickets
