An engaging and quite addictive sensory experience that improves with repeat listens.
The first few months of 2014 have been fruitful for dream weavers Jamie Watts and Evan Bartholomew. In February, Watts released the cunningly seductive Seven Succulents under his KiloWatts alias, while Bartholomew released his Spacehop Chronicles Vol. 1 under his Bluetech alias. In April, Bartholomew also released his Cosmic Dubs EP as Bluetech as well. The two creative minds have already joined forces in the past, and in 2010 released Hyperdimensional Animals—their debut as Invisible Allies—which was warmly received by fans and media alike. Almost four years later, the two sonically kindred spirits are back with their second Invisible Allies album, this time via the excellent Aleph Zero imprint, which also makes a very welcomed return after a long break.
Woven as a seamless shapeshifting fabric, Conversations with Bees slowly and hypnotically unfolds a tale of far away mystical hidden islands and funky, mind-bending otherworldly activity. For almost sixty minutes its meticulously woven synthetic and organic fibers pulse and twist, spiral and buzz, sting and hover. Over the years Watts and Bartholomew have been understandably called electronica, psybient, IDM, downtempo, psydub and more, and you can also put all these tags on Conversations with Bees, but just like their earlier collaborative effort and solo work, it drifts in the individual sounding, eclectic and indefinable sonic terrains they have created themselves. With this latest creation they keep exploring these spacey, colorful terrains. The nine tracks are full of ass-shaking grooves, deep-dive atmospheres and nuance. This is the work of two experienced musicians/sound designers driven by passion and endless curiosity.
The album features lovely seasoning by Meryl Joan (flute on “The Long Wind”), Nils Bultmann (violin on “Bee’s Longing”), Jason Rinker (tablas on “Spiral Staircase”), Dan Covan (trumpet on “And The Weeping Stopped”) and Sonja Drakulich (vocals on “Mending Time”). As usual from Aleph Zero, beautiful artwork that compliments the music is included. There’s something about that kind of mystical-cyborg-looking bee and the shapes that surround it that really reflects the nature of the music. Very attractive work by David Hale. The voyage Invisible Allies have created this time is eccentrically danceable, multilayered and complex but not dense, and unaffected by current trends. An engaging and quite addictive sensory experience that improves with repeat listens.
Conversations with Bees is available on Aleph Zero. [Bandcamp]
