You must miss something

There are two blood curdling screams within the first 15 minutes You must miss somethingthe harrowing fifth album from Philadelphia psych-punks Spirit of the Beehive. Neither stand out prominently in the mix, so it's easy to lose them among the shape-shifting structures and fragments of noise. The first, wordless and distorted, appears as the bottom falls out of opener “The Disruption,” settling like thick smoke over the ruins of the rock's disintegration. The second, which interrupts the weird 1960s pop single “Let the Virgin Drive,” is more forceful, a plea for help that sounds like it's coming out of a horror basement.

In more dexterous hands, these moments would be fluff or cheap jumpscares, but Spirit of the Beehive weaves them into their settings with a subtle touch. The way the band writes – stitching together discordant sounds into a jumbled, anxious whole – is unsettling yet carefully considered, every sharp sample, warped, effected vocal take or jarring verse placed just so. The sense of suffering is deliberate and earned, reflecting how crazy it is to wake up and endure again. “It exists in everyday life,” band member Zach Schwartz said recently The Fader. “Daily worries are part of the human experience.”

Founded by Schwartz and Rivka Ravede in 2014, the band began as shoemakers, seeking transcendence through the beat. By the time they were released in 2018 album/hypnic-jerks” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://spiritofthebeehive.bandcamp.com/album/hypnic-jerks"}” href=”https://spiritofthebeehive.bandcamp.com/album/hypnic-jerks” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Sleep jerksthey had lowered the decibel level, going into a mode more Rorschach than Ride. During the pandemic lockdown, Schwartz and his partners exchanged files to create 2021 FUN, DEATHits hallucinatory and frantic spread that mimics the endless wash of social media and advertising. Schwartz and Ravede, who had been romantically involved for over a decade, parted ways in 2022, putting the band's future in doubt.

You must miss something (as well as last fall's EP i am so lucky) is ostensibly a breakup album, though it's less a collection of done-it-wrong confessionals than an exploration of the confusion and terror that comes with suddenly entering a new phase of life. In this case, it's three people trying to figure out what it means when a love affair, a work relationship, and a friendship all fail the stress test at the same time. In this same Fader interview, multi-instrumentalist Corey Wilchin explains how writing the album helped the trio work out their new dynamic: “Collectively, we're not the most communicative bunch… We write about each other and what we're going through when we can.” don't talk about things or I don't want to talk about them.' “Loyalty is a cancer,” Ravede sings during the Deerhunter psychedelia of “Stranger Alive.” Once shifted into an intense Krautrock groove, Schwartz replies, “The path behind you is lit from the side.” There are perspectives and angles only understood in retrospect.