Although Collections of Colonies of Bees have been around for a full decade, the significance of their name seems most relevant now in the year 2008. Colony collapse disorder has been affecting many beekeepers’ colonies and has caused losses of over 36% of America’s hives since last year. Nobody seems to know what is causing the bees to leave their hives, and the band denies responsibility. This reviewer thinks, however, that they are indeed luring them away to their hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with their fifth full length album, the excellent Birds.
Guitarist Chris Rosenau and drummer Jon Mueller were both members of Pele when they started the side-project as an experiment in combining folk and bluegrass instrumentation with modern technology and recording methods. Pele has since broken up and Collections of Colonies of Bees has become a full fledged band including five members. Although they have gradually strayed away from the folk and bluegrass influences the band claims “It’s still there. You just can’t hear it anymore…” The new album contains four tracks each around ten minutes in length and appropriately titled “Flocks I-IV.”
“Flocks I” opens with stuttering guitar parts and static noise as well as fragmented sections of guitars and keyboards which seem to have been cut up and digitally pieced back together, a process which they also explored on their last album, 2004’s Customer. Strummed guitar chords with a bell-like tone balance out the introduction and are soon joined by drums and busy math-rock tinged guitar parts. One thing to note is that the drums on this album are unlike that of their past work, which featured cut and paste type beats filled with glitches and heavy electronic effects. Although the drums are much more subdued, they serve their purpose providing a strong backbone to the music while allowing the melodies to shine through.
The first track gradually builds, adding more and more tones and textures of guitar, however never sounding cluttered. This is in part due to the superb mixing job done on the album. Although most records are mixed such that each part has its own living space in the stereo field, on Birds the band uses a technique where each strum or pluck fades throughout the stereo spectrum. The resulting outcome is quite interesting and is sure to keep listeners wearing headphones engaged and satisfied. “Flocks II” utilizes the digital fragmented sounds even more so and, although you get the feeling that this would sound jarring, it is actually very smooth and catchy. At some points, it is reminiscent of Beneva Vs. Clark Nova’s Sombunall. The drums enter about a minute and a half in giving the cut up ambience a beat to ride on. There is also a simple but effective bass line leading the track which is actually not a bass, but a baritone guitar. Similar to the first track, “Flocks II” builds by adding many different parts and at its peak creates something which can only be described as a musical collage of sound. “Flocks III” follows the same blueprint of multiplying guitar parts, but the Fender Rhodes and analog synthesizers are more prominent in the mix.
The final track, “Flocks IV,” is led by a melody played on the Rhodes and is the most straightforward of the four, making minimal use of the now familiar chopped up sound technique. The drummer stirs things up a bit by digging into his percussive bag of tricks towards the finale and utilizing a steel drum along with wood blocks. This track serves as an excellent closer with guitar lines that are much more fluid than the previous tracks’ math-rock riffs. On Birds, Collections of Colonies of Bees have created a unique and intricate album which is very enjoyable and reveals more sonic surprises with every listen.
-Brenton Dwyer