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| Photo - Chad Cochran |
Megan Bee’s new album Fiction features ten original songs of slowing down, softness, and enjoying the sweetness of life. Known for lyrics that evoke a sense of place, these new songs carry that tradition of Bee’s unique way to make her settings come to life from spring pushing up from the ground in “Sweeter Things” to fireflies dancing in the trees in “Waiting”. The album spans a myriad of themes from sensual intimacy in a song about making a quilt, to yearning for creativity to make the world a better place, and to the heartbreak of losing a friend to suicide.
What sets this album apart from Bee’s previous work sonically is the sheer expressive closeness of her vocals combined with a production that leans over the edge of the Folk/Americana genre and dips its toe into an Arthouse sound at times. The album features Bee not only on acoustic guitar, but also piano and wurlitzer. Guest musicians range from longtime Athens collaborators like John Borchard on pedal steel to surprisingly supple additions of Kate Wakefield on cello (Lung), Chris Justice on bass (Local Honeys), and Ammed Solomon on drums (Mountain Stage).
The album was produced by Eddie Ashworth at The Oxide Shed in Athens, Ohio. A Southern California native, Ashworth brings his years of experience engineering chart-toppers and multi-platinum albums in L.A. in the 1990s to the production of Fiction. Ashworth handles these minimalist yet rich songs with an ingenious ear while letting the emotive vocals and lyrical depth be the main focus of the album.
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Back in January 2021 we featured Sturle Dagsland on Beehive Candy. We were very short of help at that time and so, just copied and pasted the promo info we received (yep we were amateur) such was our desire to share the music. I can in all honesty say that their music blew me away! On their sophomore album The Norwegian duo continue to weave the rich musical tapestry that their 2021 debut showcased, combining elements of Norwegian folk, electronica, metal, experimental pop and a wild mixture of different vocal techniques. Once again this is really creative, at times outstanding, even blissful and worth listening to in full. Beehive Candy are mightily impressed.
With a wild and unique performance Sturle captivates the audience and takes the listeners on an adventurous journey. Together with his brother they have toured extensively at festivals all across the world, from Shanghai to New York, Greenland and all the way to the Source of the Nile in Africa. The two brothers conjure an expressive ever-changing soundscape with a distinctive sonic palette and an uncompromising whirlwind of sound.
Dominated by Sturle`s astonishing voice their sound evolves from the ethereal and beautiful to wild and abrasive in a matter of seconds. Expect the unexpected and lean into a musical odyssey that conjures sounds of the netherworlds and intertwines old primordial knowledge with screaming metal, folk music and immersive soundscapes. The project’s distinctive sonic palette has found the band perform not only at prestigious international festivals, but also alongside the likes of Big Thief in US and Oranssi Pazuzu in Europe.
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North Wales based singer-songwriters Eve Goodman and SERA share their long-awaited collaborative Welsh album 'Natur', a hymn of love to the cyclical element of women and nature. Ranging from a whimsical sea shanty about a Menai Strait mermaid to an evocative acapella spell-song; from a love song inspired by a moth, to an ode to emotions and the weather, this is a meaningful and creative folk songbook. The album is a rich and varied journey from percussive, hooky ear-worms about burnout and modern life (Anian), to expansive and moving Celtic blessings that sing of reverence for the land (Bendith).
Eve Goodman and SERA (Sarah Zyborska) began working together when they were both selected as BBC Horizons Artists in 2019. Both women, with rising solo careers, grew up in Caernarfon, North Wales. After just one writing session they found common ground in their connection to and curiosity around nature. Surrounded by the beautiful North Wales landscape that is such an important part of their lives, they began to explore the Welsh names for birds, trees, flowers and the more-than-human world. The song tendrils soon grew to touch upon the cyclical element of both nature and women. Soon enough a body of work was growing, each song a celebration of both. Natur was born.
“We both loved the Spell Songs project (ft. Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart et al) and the way the songs serve as a call to reawaken our love of the wild. We approached our songwriting with this call in mind in the language of our land, Welsh. As one of the lines in our song Anian says ‘I cofio ein natur, edrychwn ar natur’ (to remember our nature, we look to nature). It’s about accepting our wild nature in an increasingly complex and digitalised landscape.”
The album was recorded in Wild End Studio near Llanrwst, North Wales, nestled in the foothills, with co-producer Colin Bass (member of Camel and also producer of the Tincian album from 9 Bach which won ‘Best Album’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in 2015).
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Following on from Did You Think That I Was Lost?, the next glimpse of Ivan Moult’s upcoming album, Stood Out in The Storm, is 'I Should Have Asked Your Name'.
Ivan explains: “A song exploring instant attraction and missed opportunity, resolving with love finding a way to wait for us and allowing us to meet again. Sonically carried along on a lazy river of electric guitars that burst out at times in solo alongside organ flourishes and light touch drums and bassline.”
Ivan’s signature sound remains at the core: a seamless blend of 1960s/70s folk and blues infused with modern textures, drawing influence from John Martyn, the late great Terry Reid and Ry Cooder. On Stood Out In The Storm, that familiar intimacy is expanded with a greater presence of guitars and organs, adding new depth and urgency to the sound. As with his previous records, Ivan wrote, played, recorded and mixed the album at his Cardiff home studio, and the record sits as a companion piece to Songs From Severn Grove.
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