Is there a single other band in the world that sounds quite like Philadelphia’s SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE? Coming on the heels of last year’s spellbinding i’m so lucky EP, the restless dream-pop-rock-gaze-noise-tronic-whatever trio just announced their first new full-length in three years, YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING.
Today, they shared “LET THE VIRGIN DRIVE,” a reality-warping lead single that melts the lines between sunshine pop and sound collage. The track opens as a duet between Zack Schwartz and a heavily AutoTuned vocal sample from Japanese city pop icon Tatsuro Yamashita, but it only takes a few minutes for the song structure to fall apart and give way into a total sonic nightmare, a whirlpool of warbling guitars, frightening samples, and and just the slightest hint of an EDM groove. Would you believe it if I told you this is one of their more accessible songs in recent years? Buried underneath all of the studio-as-instrument obfuscation is one of SOTB’s tightest pop songs, a clever little ditty that’s sure to win over those who were mystified by 2021’s impenetrable ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH.
YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING comes out on August 23rd via Saddle Creek, about a month shy of their upcoming U.S. Tour, which starts on September 24th in Boston and finishes on November 9th at Union Transfer in Philadelphia. Tickets go on sale this Friday; for now, you can check out the surreal music video for “LET THE VIRGIN DRIVE” below and pre-order the record here.