Album Review

Sea Of Bees – Orangefarben

• 9th Apr 2012

Orangefarben is the second album from Sea of Bees, the Californian singer Julie Ann Baenziger. As well as writing all but one of the eleven tracks, Jules (as she is usually known) also plays almost all of the variety of instruments on the album. But it is the quality of her vocals that makes this such a fine album. Her voice is high and at times almost childlike, but has a dynamic quality that is thrilling and deeply emotive.

This is basically a break up album; the title is the nickname of the former lover in question. I’m assuming she was German, and the name translates as “the colour of orange”. But don’t expect a collection of maudlin, woe is me type songs about lost love. Instead there is an upbeat and defiant feel here, achieved perhaps in part through the catharsis of writing these songs. The album is at times wistful but never descends into self pity.

The story of the relationship is told in fairly simple yet poetic lyrics that are backed by a complex series of sounds. It is almost orchestral in places, with various strings and keyboard parts added to the basic guitar, drums and bass. It works well, always complementing rather than masking the vocals.

‘Broke’ starts things off in buoyant fashion as layers of acoustic guitars give a big sound. The repetition of “I’ll be fine” sets the theme of moving on with life. ‘Take’ is a fine track featuring a marching drum in the background and ocean sounds behind the guitar. And ‘Teeth’, telling of the strange things we remember about old lovers, has some lovely slide guitar work.

The soft folk music of ‘More’ sees Jules singing softly over an acoustic guitar, her vocals just a haunted murmur in places. ‘Give’ is far more varied, with sound loops and complex rhythms following on from a powerful bass line.

A mellotron features in ‘Smile’ giving a lovely deep psychedelic intro. The lyrics repeat the phrase “When you laugh I came alive” as Jules thinks back to her former partner. The track ends with some lovely vocal harmonies as a second female voice joins in.

‘Leaving’ is the one cover on the album and it fits in perfectly, both musically and thematically. Better known as John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane, the name has been shortened to fit in with the minimalistic approach taken here with Jules’ own song titles. This is a lovely laid back version, the vocals strong yet wistful and expressing longing for lost love.

‘Girl’ follows, a dreamy sounding pop song that echoes back to the start of the relationship when the two lovers first met and got to know each other. ‘Alien’ is based around a simple repeated melody, yet the passionate vocals lift the song into an interesting pop/ folk sound. ‘Grew’ finishes the album with an almost ambient track that is full of synthesised sounds and background effects that sit behind the vocals.

This unusual album, perhaps best described musically as psychedelic folk, demonstrates a tremendous inner strength in Julie Ann Baenziger. The listener is left in no doubt that she has emerged from the relationship she sings about as a stronger person. While a break up is never an easy thing to go through she has taken what she can from the whole experience and moved on.

And she got a good album out of it too.