The Spirit of the Beehive (TSOTB) is a singularity. Like its 1973 Spanish movie namesake, the Philadelphia-based band’s music is eerie and psychedelic, melding complex harmonies, shifting meters and mind-bending effects with catchy melodies and engaging lyrics.
The five-piece outfit, fronted by singer/guitarist Zack Schwartz, also includes drummer Pat Conaboy, guitarist/knob twister Kyle Laganella, multi-instrumentalist Corey Wichlin and bassist/vocalist Rivka Ravede. Together, they’ve created a sound that’s as restless as it is intriguing, turning on a dime from post-punk to psych-pop to ambient shoegaze.
They’ll showcase their strangeness at Gasa Gasa on Friday, June 14, with support from Portland’s Strange Ranger, Houston’s Overo and New Orleans’ own Pope.
TSOTB released its fourth album, "Hypnic Jerks," in September. It’s the band’s most accessible project yet but also its most complex. It comprises 10 tracks — and each lives in a sonic world all its own.
The connective tissue comes from field recordings made by Ravede’s father in the 1960s and ’70s, carefully curated from hundreds of hours of tape and interspersed throughout the album. They lend the tracks a strange sense of solidarity, like distinct alien life forms all arriving confused and lonesome on Earth.
At 9 p.m. Friday, June 14, at Gasa Gasa (4920 Freret St., 504-338-3567; www.gasagasa.com. Strange Ranger, Pope and Overo open.
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