After five years, She Keeps Bees are back.
Kinship finds Jessica Larrabee, who lost her father in the years since Eight Houses, and partner Andy LaPlant reflecting on loss, nature and rebirth. After trading Brooklyn for a cottage upstate, the couple wrote and recorded the album in five months with help from friends: bassist Kevin Sullivan and guitarist Penn Sultan of Last Good Tooth, plus multi-instrumentalist Eric Maltz.
On “Coyote,” Larrabee takes cues from Katie Lee (whom she also references in the song), a musician and activist who penned a collection of environmentally themed folk songs in 1964 called Folk Songs of the Colorado River, in which she vocally condemned the damming of that waterway. Larrabee’s lyrics aren’t as specific, but she recognizes the power of our planet’s rivers, oceans and streams. ”“Carved by rain, by rivers, by streams,” she sings over lightly strummed guitar and beautifully restrained strings. “Flood the canyons / Drown everything / Ignore the rules of balance.” “Coyote” crescendoes as footage of canyons, brooks, birds and, then, humans floating along a river flash on the screen.
Again, you can watch the video for “Coyote” below. While you’re here, check out She Keeps Bees’ 2012 Daytrotter Session further down.