The Spirit of the Beehive - Pleasure Suck (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

The Spirit of the Beehive

Pleasure Suck (2017)

Tiny Engines


The Spirit of the Beehive are a Philly band filled with familiar faces from their music scene. It's driven by Zack Schwartz (formerly of Glocca Morra -- a pretty badass indie/punk gem) and backed by members of Kite Party (a dark-pop/synth/shoegaze indie outfit). With both acts dissolving, the spirit of the beehive have often teased fans with an LP and pleasure suck brings everything full circle. From the promise they showed through years of musical experience, now aggregated into a dreamy-sounding collective, to an apt response that will undoubtedly sate those anxiously waiting.

Kite Party lovers would be delighted with how strong their presence is felt here. The dark melodies they're accustomed to arise on songs like "snow on the moon" and "pleasure suck I", shaping soothing walls of sound that even have some folk influences stuck in. As for Glocca Morra, the edgy, rough garage sound their fans love crop up on "time to scratch them all" and "twenty first road trip" -- with a psych edge that finds the band cutting loose as if to reiterate that while they're a band of halves, there's still something unique and distinct bubbling underneath the surface. This emerges later on in the record with the warm, key-filled rhythm on "cops come looking". It's a piano medley that crafts the band's identity as one keen to look forward and not back on their big accomplishments on the DIY scene. The record gets a bit repetitive in the middle but power through it, and you'll be good to go.