(01.17.05) Beequeen, the art child of Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar, has evolved from its ambient-industrial drone roots into an acoustic microsound pop group, fusing guitars and the occasional vocal to field recordings, sound effects, and whispered synthesizer sounds. Influenced by the psychedelic period of The Beatles and latter day Talk Talk, de Waard and Kinkelaar seek to meld the soft wanderings of acoustic guitar to the minimal sounds of tiny particles and ambient spaces with The Bodyshop, their new release on Important Records.
“The Dream-o-phone,” like a good portion of The Bodyshop, reminds me of Llips, the Belgium/US/Mexico collective who made acoustic ambient soundscapes, as the Beequeen track dreams through an afternoon rain shower on the hard roof while processed guitar sounds are stretched like warm taffy. A woman’s voice drifts through the room — no, wait, that’s “Sad Sheep” (the previous track) and “Black Eyed Dog” (the next track) — the ambient spaces of The Bodyshop drift into one another as tones from one track slip across the silent breaks and take up residence in the adjacent track. The percussion of “Blackburn” plays chaperone to a tiny breath of static, a slight hum that shyly sneaks into your inner ear. “Buzzbag Drive” is the most overtly pop song of
the record, filled with the desert sonority of the slumbering bass and the echoing chords of the guitar (think Scenic for a familiar landmark in this land of sand and rock).
The Bodyshop isn’t a long record, eleven tracks spun out across thirty-seven minutes, but its brevity is forestalled by its textured nuances. There’s more than enough to lose yourself in here, tiny pockets of sound and space that are rife with echoes and the distant movement of tiny particles and voices in resonant spaces. Beequeen
have evolved nicely and The Bodyshop is a delicate and dreamy record.
The Bodyshop is out now on Important Records.
