Review Summary: Like honey too willing to leave the spoon
Due in part to an ever-changing line-up (though also as a result of the bubbling, ephemeral nature of the band’s sound), Collections of Colonies of Bees have never been the easiest to place. On the other hand, no band name has ever been so apt.
I exaggerate, but there’s a point:
For a single thread weaves itself through the band’s decades-long career in the form of Chris Rosenau’s fluttering guitar work, as his notes pop and swirl in and out of the music like nimble hands through complex tapestries. Or, indeed, like bees through a hive.
Despite this through-line, however, the music of Collections of Colonies of Bees has always begged for something of a tether. On Volcano Choir’s self-titled release, this came in the form of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), whose hand in the album’s song-writing forced Bees to, as each track unfolded, pull focus on their otherwise fragmented formula, revealing something momentous and altogether, well,
whole. Years prior, on the band’s
GIVING EP, it was a complex rattle of instrumentation and electronic glitches that laid the foundation for the project’s more overt, “musical” elements. Despite working against one another, the sounds on that album – in a most chaotic union – came together to form what was, I think, nothing short of a miracle.
But I digress:
Whether or not the band’s constant shift in sound could be classed a “gimmick”, each movement – so far – has provided the group with a means of honing their talents for something altogether more conclusive and digestible, and
HAWAII is no exception.
On it, Collections of Colonies of Bees abandon some of their more post/math(?)-rock leanings in favour a more pop-oriented sound. Of course,
Volcano Choir (amongst other projects) proved Bees to be more than capable of conforming to the addition of vocals; however,
HAWAII’s initiation of Marielle Allschwang is nothing to be looked over. Atop the album she soars, as though living within, above and as a part of its patchwork. Daniel Spack joins her on opener ‘Killerers’ and the proceeding ‘Giibs’ (his low, subtle croonings complement her restrained highs like butter to a mug of sweetened coffee), but soon relinquishes the spotlight, allowing Allschwang to dominate highlights ‘HAWAII’ and ‘For Ghost’.
Despite being the album’s most minimal composition, it’s in the latter of these that its crux is grounded. At the risk of dismissing the music that lies at the heart of
HAWAII – or worse, butchering the album in an attempt to gleam or dissect its “meaning” – I’ll posit that what I think makes
HAWAII so special, outside of the band’s inspiring sense of collaboration (the “gimmick” here is that Allschwang and Rosenau’s pedals are, immaculately, rigged as one), is neither its immediate beauty nor its unfolding unpleasantness, but something buried deep beneath its dichotomies.
When, like a spectre, Allschwang sings “Did you teach him to shoot yet?”, it’s hard to ignore. There’s something sinister about the familiarity of her voice, as though she’s caught you out for ignoring that line about the stun gun in ‘Killerers’ – or the title itself, for that matter, allowing it to develop into the far less innocent ‘Murderers’. But you have, and you do, because
HAWAII is beautiful, and what a cute little puffin that is.
