Photo by David Brandon Geeting

There was hardly anything fully resembling structure on Spirit of the Beehive’s breakthrough 2021 effort, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, and then heartbreak shook the band to its core and everything fell into more symmetrical form with their sound on last year’s i’m so lucky extended play. That is proving to be an important mile marker in where the Philly experimental indie rock trio are in their creative journey inside the human psyche. Infatuation still lingers on with “LET THE VIRGIN DRIVE”, the lead single from their new album, YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING, and so does that new sense of centering they discovered with where they last left off. Zack Schwartz, Corey Wichlin, and Rivka Ravede collect through a breeze and strum, with Schwartz and Ravede trading positions from the the point of ideation on a fresh romance, seen until eventually unrequited. “Face of an angel folds sweetly into me and blows the lid off.” That’s the street noise and a wretched scream cutting through the serenity, and no mistake in the listen’s design. One moment you’re in heaven. The next, you’re devolving into ash.

Directed by: Daniel Patrick Brennan

Spirit of the Beehive’s YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING will be releasde August 23rd on Saddle Creek.