The Beehive of Industry by The Last Bees
Ian Ash is one quirky rascal. Either as a soloist or leading his current band, the Last Bees, the Milwaukee singer-songwriter has never been abashed about drawing from power pop ur texts like The Beatle's Rubber Soul-to-Revolver era and The Beach Boys’ Wild Honey and Smiley Smile. The peculiarity of Ash's lyrical concerns and askew angle of his production choices always set Ash and his Bees apart from being merely slavish revivalists.
The Beehive of Industry feels like a highwater mark for Ash's approach. And it's still rascally. His paeans to business concerns, like remote working, could be the fodder for wry smirks in the hands of an act such as They Might be Giants, but he seems oddly sincere. Elsewhere, the Anglophilia goes beyond the Fab Four to a space where Ash and his Bees exude the feel of one of Elton John's late ‘80s highlights. Throwing back a couple decades prior, another of Beehive’s hookier selections imagines the hypothetical of Phil Spector helming a session by New Rascals, albeit within Ash's resolutely lo-fi aesthetic.
That the album concludes on a balladic note with a psychedelically crazed keyboard solo makes as much sense as any other way to end an album so engagingly, compulsively quirky. Even if The Last Bees never reach the heights of Ash's heroes and forebears, or even the retro-minded acts like Meghan Trainor and Great Van Fleet from whom Ash admits to drawing inspiration, it's not hard to see a future where Ash's songcraft could be fodder for more commercially minded artists. Whether heard as a set from which others could pick potential hits or their own statement of current intent, the Last Bees' latest offers sweet, strange delights aplenty.
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