I remember back a couple of months ago, catching The Orphaned Bee‘s – Thinking Without Language EP on YouTube… the image on the cover… a beautiful golden bee, immediately grabbed my attention; as I have genuinely adored bees since early childhood. It stood out so prominently, I just had to give it a listen! My mind instantly drifted back to the late 70s/early 80s, with epic synthwave perfected bliss! I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing… an absolute, ever-changing journey of some of the best synthwave I’ve ever heard…
“Rain” is a song that instantly sets the tone of what Thinking Without Language offers the listener… relaxed, flowing grooves of smooth synthwave… reverberative, robotic style vocals that blend almost too well within the music… addictive drum beats, and compelling guitars makes for a very enjoyable 80s style era of music. Melodies, almost complex, with so much detail with everything going on within the music, are executed brilliantly and flawlessly… such amazing, intricate detail!
“Water” is more doom-oriented in nature… the groove style is slower paced… It’s more of a 70s style of doom. Between the ‘fuzz’ style of guitars, to the entrancing vocals that give off a state of hypnotism… you find yourself tripped-out, in a dream-stated trance. The vocals are more prominent here, extensively, quite mesmerizing; while the drumming is effectively semi-droning… so brilliantly “droning” in fact, it elevates to the point of addictiveness! Such captivating, grandly monumental music!
My favorite song… “Sanctuary”… puts me into an absolute, deep-state of dreams. A glorious (almost heavenly), uplifting piece of music that has turned out to be one of my most favorite songs ever. From being vastly spaced-out at the start, “Sanctuary”, I harbor as a most treasured piece of music. While mesmerizing vocals blend effortlessly within the music, it kind of gives a feeling of walking towards a welcoming, bright light across beautiful, hill-sided plains, outward from the nighttime darkness. There’s a minute break at (2:34 to 2:36) that just escalates “Sanctuary” ever so slightly from when it had started. Such profound silence, yet just as striking all the same. Very few bands have that certain, quaint ‘charm’ to them, that whether with a song or an entire album… possess an unwavering power so strong, that hits me in such a way I’m moved to tears. This album is so beautiful on its own… but, “Sanctuary” really hits me pretty hard. It’s honestly one of the most beautiful songs that I have ever listened to! The lyrics to this one are extremely beautiful as well. I tend to repeat this track an immense amount of times before being able to carry on to “Fire”…
…”Fire” is intensely, blissfully groovy… it’s very easy to get caught up into the music’s spell-binding aura with this one…. between the soft, hypnotic vocals, to the very peaceful feeling you’re left with… it feels like you’re laying up on a hillside, watching as sporadic, billowy clouds drift across a wistful, blue sky. It’s very relaxing… kind of has that same groove-laden trippiness… a very substantial reminder of, say, Pink Floyd’s “Sheep”… or even “A Final Coat” by Skin Alley.
Within the emanation of night, those ‘fuzz’ guitars come through once more, with “Ascendance”… With an ‘up in the night sky amongst the stars’ kind of feeling… a spiraling whirlwind of synth-driven sounds and voices brings forth an intense, trippy, psychedelic feeling! Mid-range, synth-driven voices get louder and more prominent towards the end… just slightly overpowering the psychedelic trance felt. Thinking Without Language ends magnificently with this song.
It bears mentioning that Thinking Without Language is an album that needs to be listened to from start to finish without a break, to get the full, desired effect. All the music contained within this album blends so effortlessly masterful to where it goes by much faster than it should… which makes for extensive repeats.
These guys, out of nowhere, have easily come to be one of my most favorite bands of all-time… From the way they craft their music, to taking you on an otherworldly journey from start to finish… to having you completely under their ‘spell’ for the album’s complete duration… The Orphaned Bee is without exception, a unique and memorable band. I really can’t think of another band (at the moment) where you get this kind of music from an album’s entirety, that is a substantial trip-fest of such epic proportions! Pure, brilliant, perfected bliss.
*While Brett Tollis wrote and performed all the music, as well as being the vocalist; Ron Pollard (from the band Tangled Thoughts of Leaving) played the piano on “Rain”. Alex O’Toole (from the band Meniscus) plays the drums, and Tim Carr recorded the drums when Alex performed. Laura Boettcher, as well as Brett, wrote all the song lyrics.*
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