In the ever-changing and maximalist world of Spirit Of The Beehive you have to shed all of your previous expectations that you might have of the Band’s earlier work and go into the experience with an open and clear mind. An experience that could be described similarly to trying a familiar mind-altering substance for the first time in a while where you put yourself in a position where you have to hand yourself over to something and let it guide you. There are certain moments in a Spirit of The Beehive Album that will challenge you and make you question its purpose. Whether it was to throw you off or to add some paranoia to make the pretty songs sound prettier, either way, it is effective nonetheless. On this album, there were some dynamics going on with the Band that, instead of running from, they faced head-on and used for a lot of the inspiration behind the album, this being the Breakup of members Zach Shwartz and Ritka Ravede. Despite this album being more of a candid listen than their last album, ENTERTAINMENT,DEATH, The signature musical ingredients of their past work are apparent, such as fragmented samples, multiple singers on a song and effect heavy adventurous vocal melodies that could linger in your ears and trail on for eternity.

The Musical Palate of YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING feels like the perfect evolution of the Band’s sound. The first Single to come out in promotion for the record was I LET THE VIRGIN DRIVE. A song as cinematic as it is campy with its beautifully ridiculous autotune vocals and wondrous melodies that produce a feeling as nostalgic as much as it is completely foreign. The Band previously mentioned in an interview that they are happy with being a record band and don’t think they have any hits. Although I respect this sentiment very much, I do think that this song is absolutely a hit and a great single to set the tone for the rest of the album.

The First track, THE DISRUPTION, is undeniably intriguing and surprising with its multiple sections and the energetic and unique vocal feature from MS PAINT, which adds an element of surprise and unpredictability that I am hoping to experience when pressing play on a new Spirit Of The Beehive album. The Virtuosic and chaotic genre blending continues on STRANGER ALIVE. A song that has the ability to grow on you exceptionally with each and every listen. It sounded so all over the place at the first listen but once I heard it for a second time My mind was truly blown. The way the parts go together is like a match made in heaven I would never think of in my whole life. All of these songs feel as if they have been studied to every last detail similar to a director conducting a scene and paying attention to every last thing involved so that the more the audience sees it they see something completely new. This Comes across to great effect in THE CUT DEPICTS THE CUT a song that sounds like it was tinkered with to the most tedious level of attention before it completely changes four bars later and adds a completely different dynamic. The fifth cut off the record SORRY PORE INJECTOR starts with a Taxi Driver-esque instrumental before it goes into a driving verse section that flows beautifully and changes into some lovely vocal melodies that oscillate and delay to great effect. The melodies in the last half of the song are reminiscent of some of the memorably freaky moments off the beach boys album smiley smile.

The energy shifts into a dreamier and chiller direction with FOUND A BODY, an absolutely gorgeous song that is easy to take in and enjoy as a stand-alone track. SUN SWEPT THE EVENING RED continues where we left off before the last track at the same frantic and beautifully psychedelic pace. This album is the home to many new gems in the Band’s discography. Still, if there is one song that stands out to me as the strongest, it would be 1/500, a track that has undoubtedly the most unhinged emotion out of any of the Band’s songs to date and is perfectly simple in the context of the album. If you’ve heard the Band’s breakout 2018 album Hypnic Jerks, then you’re no stranger to the Band’s ability to write catchy lo-fi indie rock songs that could stand alongside some of the greats of our generation yet instead of cashing in on this ability they choose to harness their use of experimentation and dense instrumentation to make the wonderfully progressive and allusive music that they make but every once in a while their pop sensibilities leak into the chaos and this track is a perfect example of that.

DUPLICATE SPOTTED is yet another densely packed song that pushes the album’s previous sound to its grandiose and melancholic finale on EARTH KIT. The song evolves from whimsical string passages to pulsating waves of chords sitting under stunningly emotional vocals that stand out as some of the most technical and well-performed vocals in the Band’s catalogue. In my eyes, this is their Best Album yet. Listen to it twice. Listen to it three times. Either way, I hope you can enjoy this wonderfully chaotic and sensational record as much as I do.

Pre-order You’ll Have To Lose Something by Spirit Of The Beehive HERE