Creative workaholics to the core, Brisbane psych-pop quartet Drawn From Bees have churned out an amazing three EPs in just twelve months – 2008’s The Boy And The Ocean and 2009’s back-to-back And The Blind Shall Lead The Naked / The Sky Is Falling. The band’s debut LP Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed was originally planned to be their EP number four, however the members’ non-ceasing productivity meant they wrote enough songs to fill a whole album – and aptly recorded them in trademark no-nonsense fashion.
First single and opening track “Run Away” is what you call a typical DFB song – a simple, medium-paced verse, organic acoustic/electric guitar template, big (although not as big when compared to the ones in earlier staples Long Tooth Setting Sun and Bus Now) harmony-heavy chorus and a trippy outro.
Drummer Matt Wedmaier provides versatile backbeat patterns underneath guitarist Raven’s laconic parts and bassist Stew Riddle’s busy pulse while singer/guitarist Dan James tells assorted stories in his distinctive tenor voice (soaring to the stars on the ethereal “Too Long”). “Always The Last” packs a tight, pneumatic bassline while The East Wood Fox, with its moody vocal refrain and soaring, Beatlesque chorus hook, is the album’s authentic ‘grower’ track and “Stand Against The Storm” is perhaps DFB’s strongest ‘pop’ moment since 2008’s iridescent “Picture Show”.
Perhaps the fastest-paced track here, “Awful Mess” nicely mixes neo-post-punk atmospherics with DFB’s trademark four-part harmonies. Balancing the abovementioned rockier numbers, the LP’s slower, more introspective second half (highlights: “Undertakers”, “All The World’s A Stage”, the closing soliloquy “Why Bother”) ensures repeated listening.
Admirers of choral delights – tune in now.
Review Score: 7.5/10
