We live in a time when more and more musicians are turning their attention to making music that has something to say about the world around us, something I am all for. After all, without people being unhappy with their lot, or at least curious about the way the world works, we wouldn’t have had rock ‘n’ roll, conscious soul, hip-hop, or punk! Music should have something to say.
“Waste Paper Bins,” the new one from BeaVoys, certainly has something to say. But like many of his previous songs, it is about a more general idea rather than giving you a specific answer. Over a platform of psych-pop vibes and guitar motifs that squeak and squall, he tells a tale that has the sort of small-town absurdity and everyday minutiae that The Kinks were so good at describing, woven through it. A tale of democratic process being manipulated, and perhaps a deeper metaphor for the trust that we put in the powers-that-be. There is also an alternative sonic take of this, which is used for the video release.
Its sonic travelling companion of what we used to call a double A-side is the slightly Dylan-esque, slightly grotesque parable “Business Picked Up.” Again, a surreal story of a businessman affecting the market to maximise sales, and again, a wonderful metaphor for capitalism in its broader and most cynical (perhaps not) sense. Blending louche Southern sonics with folk-style narration, understatement, with groove, it at once sounds both slightly nostalgic, in the way that most of Beavoys’ music does, but also more current than his usual sound, not a criticism, an observation.
These are indeed sonic parables, not stories that reveal their purpose in literal terms but instead echo the way that we do things in the world, in the case of these two songs, a look at electoral trust and corporate marketing.
Not everyone needs everything spelled out for them, and the fun here is that moment when the light bulb pings in your head and your mind says, “ahh, this is just like that,” the that being a real-world process or experience. As he is fond of saying, “without a flock, there are no shepherds” (and it is not a coincidence that the business that is on the up in the second song is so named!)
It’s what BeaVoys does so well. He gives you information and lets you join the dots; he creates networks of ideas… whether talking about how life itself might be seeded across the universe or how businesses rig the game… and leaves you to find their real-life parallel.
And talking of sayings, here’s another one, one that really sums up his approach to his lyrics: “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!” Well, dear reader, drink up!
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