Easy Bees – Easy Bees (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Despite the seeming lightness and subtlety that runs through this debut from Easy Bees, there are some deft sonic weaves to be found at the heart of the music. For every Tom Petty-esque groove, such as Mind is Rolling, there is a more pop move, such as Golden Hour Radio, in evidence too. But not pop in the modern sense, more the pop vibe of late-era Beatles and occasionally straying into the shimmering realms of the likes of The Beach Boys.

And there is also plenty of folk-infused, singer-songwriter sounds at work in this joyous and indeed spacious design, with songs such as Away From My Hometown offering you a mental note to play your old Simon and Garfunkle records again, but once you have played this gorgeous album to death, naturally.

Runway shows off their rock chops, a song that drives brilliantly but again doesn’t burden itself with the usual volume and velocity that less able songwriters resort to to cover their own limitations. Our Town is a shimmering slice of scintillating folk, perhaps a modern take on the likes of CSN&Y or The Byrds.

If a debut album is the sound of a band putting their first foot forward, just starting on a long yet unwritten and unrecorded musical journey, then it is a journey that any discerning music fan should watch very closely.