She Keeps Bees - Dig On

For their third album, Jessica Larrabee and Andy LaPlant transported themselves away from the sounds of New York City and holed up for a month in a log home set in the Catskill Mountains – and you can hear it.

That’s not to say ‘Dig On’ is a major departure from the formula they developed on their first two albums. The template remains. Rather the change of environment unveils a slight shift in focus and brings out nuances that hadn’t been apparent before.

It’s these slight changes that make all the difference. This record is less about the quiet-loud dynamics seen on previous albums and more about, well, digging and building; building up an idea until the intensity is almost tangible.

The instrumentation is sparse, the rhythms funereal at times and the songs slowly built, the country air giving the music chance to breathe and give ideas space. ‘Vulture’ is a perfect example as Jessica intones about people “drunk on their own power.’

It seems a little crass (not to say unoriginal) to compare Larrabee to other female singers but the lineage of The Kills, early Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cat Power and PJ Harvey is undeniable (at least I didn’t reference Kate Bush). There’s that vulnerability to her voice as well as a steely determination.

Sultry and brooding, ‘Dig On’ is the sound of the night. The intense mood they create works really well on the smoky ‘Sister Beware’ and ‘All Or None/Dark Horse’ - which starts with a capella singing and finishes with tribal drumming.

Yet the sparse sound and slow burning rhythms also mean the record can seem samey. By the time it ends you don’t feel like you’ve been on a rollercoaster, more a nighttime ride through dark backstreets.

When the pained repetition of “I don’t believe you” on ‘See Me’ is followed by a cathartic blast of guitar, it provides the record with a much-needed explosion. At times you feel the album could have done with more of this.

However, while ‘Dig On’ fails to raise the heart rate enough, the stark and powerful tension that the record captures is captivating.