The Last Bees
This far into the 21st century, the circa 1964 Beatles can still enchant youthful musicians. The six songs on The Last Bees adhere to Fab Four formalism instrumentally and melodically, but not as much lyrically. Songwriter Ian Ash can be caustic over bubbly sweet guitar passages, and uses current phrases like “comfort zone”; still, it’s a touch goofy to hear someone possibly young enough to be one of the Fab Four’s grandchildren sing of taking his beloved to a drive-in movie. That faint air of “this all being a lark,” down to the yellow suit he sports in pictures promoting the release, merges well into a reverence for John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s songcraft.
