It’s probably no coincidence that The Bees, from the Isle of Wight, have a sound that recalls the late ’60s/early ’70s. The majority of the world knows the Isle for one thing – its festival, which was immensely famous during that time. Having roots on the island is no doubt in some way responsible for developing The Bees’ rambling throwback rock. But their version, packed full of country, jazz, and soul, seems to not only reach across time, but across the Atlantic as well. Their third album, Octopus, is like a quick 21st century guide to what rock was like back in the day, with slick, churning rhythms and harmonies that are downright uncanny.
Whether its the lounge fanfare on "Got To Let Go" or the road-inspired jam, "Love in the Harbour", there are a million ways on Octopus to get confused about what decade you’re in. Just about every single song could be on some old band’s album, even covering a variety of genres. "Listening Man" gets an old school Motown vibe from its smooth R&B beat. In the scary way that occasionally some British guys really grab onto an American sound better than a lot of Americans, The Bees capture essential methods of folk, jazz, and R&B in their cool, flighty rock.
They even have a few Beatles-esque moments sprinkled in. In "Left Foot Stepdown", an organ-tapping brass groove, they use one of the Four’s most famous lines ("The word is love"). The album opener, "Who Cares What The Question Is?", is as close to The Beatles’ "Don’t Pass Me By" as a song could get without Ringo actually being in the studio. Somewhat similarly to the way The Beatles were able to fuse elements of American rock that could be felt from their first record to their last, music from the American South is like a big fat pollen bomb of a flower to The Bees.
The way The Bees pull each of these sounds off is beyond the majority of indie proficiency – it truly seems like they could be successful thirty-five years ago on both sides of the Atlantic. Each song on Octopus is addictive in its own way, and the array of genres they cover is bound to recall something in everybody’s mind. They might as well be categorized as déjà vu rock.
