Some things seem normal and some don’t. In an ideal world, Bee and Flower would be considered normal and the autotuned musical revisionists of Saturday night talent television would be regarded as the troubled trolls that they truly are. Bee and Flower’s album “Suspension” is a musical work of depth and drama and is the kind of album that should be required listening for anyone who thinks that music died with John Lennon.
“In the Dawn and “Dusk” sets the scene. Discordant guitars keeps the ears interested as Dana Schechter’s voice soars, almost nonchalantly, towards big ballad territory. You might be thinking from that description that Bee and Flower are the kind of band that wants to be friends with Mazzy Star and, whilst there is evidence to support that with “It’s The Rain” or “Swallow Your Stars”, the picture that you get of this album is less dimly lit than you might expect and it is hard not to be impressed by the graceful musical majesty that is so often demonstrated within these ten songs. It is also worth noting that the first listen just doesn’t highlight how commercial many of the songs on this album actually are.
Hitting me hardest, which is good and often necessary, was “Jackson” where Ms Schecter’s voice runs neatly parallel to jagged guitars and the kind of piano riff that would make Queen Kylie happy. It’s a commercial song but packaged here as something altogether edgier and dangerous.
Again, this is an album with a lot going on that just isn’t obvious the first time that you listen to it. The same can, of course, be said of all the fine things in life and Bee and Flower have made an album that is certainly one of the finer things in life.
The album in CD, vinyl and download varieties can be ordered from the Bandcamp website.