One by Be
Do you want to feel the buzz of 40,000 bees? Of course you do, stupid question. On this new album released this week in England, two adventurous musicians create a symphony of man and bee.
Say what you say?
This inventive project is the brainwave of Wolfgang Buttress and Kev Bales. Buttress was commissioned to create an exhibit in the UK to help bring to light the plight of bees in that country and the world.
Discovering that bees are responsible for over 30 per cent of the food humans eat, Buttress designed a 50 tonne, 17 metre high lattice structure that was a beautiful homage to the bees.
This gave the two an idea. Let’s visit a real beehive. So the two sought out bee expert Dr. Martin Benecsik, of Nottingham Trent University who had a hive of over 40,000 bees.
Then the idea struck them harder than liter of honey bashed to the head. The sound emitting from the hive gave them the idea of playing musical instruments accompanying the beautiful din of the bees.
The result is one of the most original beautiful sounding albums I have ever heard.
From the start of the opening 19 minute track “The Journey”, you will know this is something to ‘Bee” hold.
Including various instruments like the cello, guitar, keyboards and Autoharp, yes, Autoharp, the two meld together the steady hum of the hive and the human sounds into a superb murky masterpiece.
“Into” features the wonderful cello of Deirdre Benecsik, and along with the addition of an Indian Drone Box, whatever that is, culminates in a breath taking instrumental tour de force.
“The Hive” begins with the bees front and center and mixes in the strong vocals from Camille Buttress. Buttress compliments the bees hum perfectly and makes this a song that everyone should hear. Apparently they determined that the bees buzz in the key of “C” and therefore all instruments were tunes accordingly, creating a delectable ambient dish of sounds. Cool stuff.
The final act of the disc is the song “Uplift”, with its Pink Floyd-like dreamy quality, steady bee drone and various other wildlife squawks, chirps and flutters, brings the album to close perfectly as the sound fades out.
This album will not get your feet tapping, and you will not be able to sing along. But who cares? This is a collection of sounds that was created to delight all of your senses and spark awareness to the dire situation of the bees all over the world.
I have listened to this album over and over and I enjoy it more after every listen. It’s a hard one to find but for more information check out their website caughtbytheriver.net or take a listen at soundcloud.com/caughtbytheriver/one-edit
