Rating:

(Columbia, 2006) The songs on Persephone’s Bees’ debut album, Notes From The Underworld, were all written and sung by Angelina Moysov, who grew up in Southern Russia, where she both attended music school and got a much less formal music education from Russian pop culture. The combination of musical sources from Moysov’s upbringing shines through in her cute Russian accent and her simultaneously idiosyncratic and familiar, perhaps even occasionally clichéd, songs, which can bounce from classic pop, to 70s hard rock, to 60s psychedelia. The album starts off with an excellent example of such genre-hopping, as “The Way To Your Heart” bounces from buoyant cabaret piano pop, to 70s hard rock riffs, to Runt-era Todd Rundgren. Following that is “Climbing,” which would sound perfectly at home in a Broadway musical, and “City Of Love,” which starts off as a funk workout, but then features a chorus The Cardigans would be proud of and finishes with a keyboard riff ripped straight from classic rock. Although the pieces don’t really belong together, it works when Moysov and her bandmates stick them next to each other because they don’t have the notion that it shouldn’t sound good. That’s why the 60s psych-pop of “Nice Day” fits nicely in front of the Russian-language spy movie tune, “Muzika Dlya Fil’ma” - because there’s no good reason the two can’t coexist peacefully. On some other eclectic albums, the variety feels forced, in part because it’s a willful heterogeny, whereas Moysov just happens to like all these styles. However, it doesn’t always work well, like the random four seconds of reggae amid the indie pop stylings in “Even Though I’m Fooling Around.” The bouncy rock of “On The Earth” is a quick return to form, however, as it combines Devo and 60 psych-pop on the bridge with driving guitars and keys on the choruses. It’s followed immediately by another stumble, however, in the bland “Walk To The Moon,” but the Bees bounce back quickly with the Beatles-esque fuzz-pop of “Paper Plane.” Jefferson Airplance leaps to mind when “Queen’s Night Out” hits its first chorus, but then the song stalls and doesn’t grow anymore, becoming the third weak track out of five. Luckily, Notes From The Underworld ends on another high note, as “Home” initially sounds like a plain, boring pop song, until the gritty Big Wreck chords that pop up after the first and second choruses, only to give way to a textured second half that’s heavier than anything else on the album. It sounds a bit odd to hear such a peppy band finish with such a heavy track, but Persephone’s Bees pulls it off well enough, just like most of the album. The spunky vibe Moysov and company bring to the songwriting process and their performances, which are all top-notch, makes Notes From The Underworld a success, and quite a pleasing listen.

* 1. Way To Your Heart

  2. Climbing

* 3. City Of Love

* 4. Nice Day

* 5. Muzika Dlya Fil’ma

  6. Even Though I’m Fooling Around

  7. On The Earth

  8. Walk To The Moon

* 9. Paper Plane

 10. Queen’s Night Out

 11. Home

* = recommended tracks

Buy album

– Kevin

This 35-beetsreview was posted on June 20th, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.