Hypnic Jerks

Description

As Zack Schwartz, the frontman of Spirit of the Beehive, puts it, Hypnic Jerks evokes that state between waking and sleeping. The third album from the Philadelphia quintet takes its name from the involuntary muscle spasms that sometimes occur as you drift off... a sensation that perfectly describes the album's simultaneously drowsy and restless character. Unlike the overflowing energy of their second album, Pleasure Suck, Spirit of the Beehive adopts a more grounded approach here, even if the universe it rests upon is just as dreamlike. "Dreamy" is an apt adjective, but the ten tracks on Hypnic Jerks never fully tip into the sweetness of dream-pop. Hypnic Jerks has the quality of an indescribable dream that gradually fades as you regain consciousness. Its distorted guitar sounds, floating synthesizers, and a few strange sonic samples create that purgatorial space between reverie and reality. It's a space where tracks transform unexpectedly, taking on varied textures and intertwining with one another. Once past the celestial harmonies, the smooth notes, and the false progressive climax of the album's final track, it's clear that the spirit of the beehive has found its place among the musical visionaries of this decade.