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Worker Bee - No Dreams

Posted by: anthony – Jan 08, 2010

If you like Nick Cave, Sonic Youth or the Liars, chances are you will like Worker Bee. Spaced out, simple, and moody without being heavy, I found this to be a solid single from a band I didnt know about til yesterday.

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Worker Bee's debut album, Tangler, is what the band made it to be and whatever the listener wants it to be. This ethos has been instated since the first conception of the band came together in San Jose, California in 2006. They self-released two EPs before mounting creative clarity came to a head and they penned their first full-length album. Their sound continues to evolve from one release to the next, perfecting the marriage of elaborate instrumentation, angularity and beautiful haunting noise.

An exercise in simplicity, limitation was key in the recording of Tangler. Done in the non-studio of the band's house in California and working with only eight tracks each song, the record itself speaks of something larger than the whole. Space left ajar by the music is quickly occupied by the listener's own impartments.

Because of this intended elasticity, the album never makes a home in any strict genre. Songs like "Nesting" and "Cold Rats" are awash in percussive gasps and collapsed guitars. Through its blue dirge, the narrative of "When You Came Through" depicts a man giving in to something that most never could. "Rough Magic" emits a displacing fog where landmarks only appear in the sampled clangor and the steady drums become the only ground. The album's side closers "No Dreams" and "Surface Eating Acid Bath" entail all the ideas of Tangler. No one thing has meaning and reason endowed on it in the same way twice but the attempt is the real goal.