Dollboy - 'A Beard Of Bees' (Static Caravan) Released 23/03/09

For 'A Beard Of Bees', Oliver Cherer aka Dollboy has fashioned a complete book of songs where formerly he kept pretty schtum, his voice would lend to melodies by peeping from behind sonic curtains. The ambient hewn instrumental works that decorated 'Casual Nudism' and 'Plans For A Modern City' are the consistent template, but with Cherer singing as soothingly as his ambient folk textures, we find a singer with a vocal wrung like a budding Robert Wyatt whose arcane lyrics seem drawn to make a pictorial impression rather than any grand statement. 'A Beard Of Bees' fashions a harmonic interplay of psychedelic textures and loose melodies coloured by a whisper of 70's nostalgia in the space-folk of ambient programming and a cavalcade of acoustic instrumentation.

It's a magic carpet ride to leisurely slumming of sorts, quaintly English, highly daydreamy, and utterly unlikely to help the U.K. GNP. The dreamtime that is 'One Liner' features pitter patter beats and an aquatic, gently lapping lilt as Cherer sings "...cup of tea sits perfectly in saucer, tea and friends, milk after, this is the best way to brew...", while the delightful 'California' feels drawn from some bucolic past-time as loose melodies and a flautist conspire to cause beta brain ripples. 'Hello Sailor!' finds Cherer singing of "...running through the trees, the bushes and the leaves, in the naked sunshine..." like it's a folksy kids tv tune, and the titular 'A Beard Of Bees' strides out from ambient constraints to loose a 70's kids tv ditty vs Jethro Tull.

'Jet Age Kids' is even better - oblique lyrics and a staunch work of space-folk a la early Brian Eno melanged with Turin Brakes and a Beta Band topping serve as a strident contrast to the daydreamy noodle, and 'Lead Boots' is a spirited piece of Tunng-like psychedelic folk that bolsters a charge. The reverie of 'He Went To The Sea' twines squiggly synth doodles and psychedelic folk like a male counterpoint to Linda Perhacs, while the retro hotel lift muzak of 'Tan Don't Burn' with The Clangers-like synth work proves bizarre but fun. 'Tea Dance' is like some Mat Hatter's Tea Laboratory with it's electro-blips and space echo recorder, and 'Heavenly' sounds like a baroque clock-shop chamber suite a la Department Of Eagles, with 'Endless' sounding like a sub-marine Robert Wyatt tune. With maritime references foaming and salt-spraying throughout 'A Beard Of Bees', 'Oh Ahab!' serves as a roving oceanic homage to the hero of the greatest book ever written - Melville's Moby Dick.

Look out for the hidden track 'A Place In The Sun' written by The Monks, a seaside nursery rhyme with glockenspiel and woodwind that brings along it's own bucket and spade. On 'A Beard Of Bees', Dollboy has fashioned an inimitable work of nu-folk suites, a vintage canoodling of loose melodies and subtle ambient programming, fresh as a scrumped apple, as lovingly crafted as a beach. It's not likely to have buskers pouring over the arrangements but will have listeners enthralled. Where Dollboy has fashioned music to bathe to in his expressed aim, 'A Beard Of Bees' is for when your dried off and slumbering in dressing gown with reverie and a a cuppa for companionship.