Bee Bee Sea - Sonic Boomerang

Italian psych-garage glorifiers, Bee Bee Sea, can make their small town of Castle Goffredo feel like an inviting beach commune with shark infested waters. It is seemingly ambiguous to detect where these collective, monoxide huffing rockers’ origin begins. Unlike many other specific sects in music classification, garage/pysch punk rarely poses a geographical divide. Many famous groups such as The Oh Sees, King Khan & the BBQ Show, and Night Beats originate from all over the world but share the same pull down garage door demeanor. Much like the previous artists mentioned, Bee Bee Sea refuses to show any signs of mortality, despite displaying vicious scab wounds acquired in the midst of their shred session. Interestingly enough, their quaint and authentic village is equidistant to a plethora of the most visited cities in their country. Around two to three hours from Milan, Venice, Florence, and Genoa, this rustic and charming slice of Italy provides artists to absorb rich community tradition, but also being close enough to urban forms of progressive thought. This DIY trifecta ushers in influences that represent garage rock without the harmful recklessness. Ultimately, this genre wholly demonstrates rawness, but each band distinguishes themselves with their own flare and grade of musicality.

It is evident that Bee Bee Sea is among the many who wish to illustrate their balance of calamity and ability to adapt. Allowing the music to reflect critical influences within the genre, and molding it in a manner that elicits a uniquely, curated craft is an attribute that stands out among rising artists. This proves to be valid in the self-titled first track of the record, “Sonic Boomerang” channeling an acid drenched Ramones version of “Cretin Bop.” Lead singer Wilsen Wilsen continues this flavorful rendition by counting from 1, all the way to 9, which is followed by a swallowing guitar frenzy and whirlwind of perfect crescendo percussion work, before eventually returning to the chorus. Charging on with the same fervent tenacity already exclaimed by the opening track, the first true single incorporates loveable background vocals and lyrics, with a Safaris drowning lo-fidelity that is hard to achieve. Undeniably so, Bee Bee Sea permits the listener to embark on juvenile excursions, literally shouting out in “I Shouted” and “This Dog is the King of Losers.” With that being said, a common misconception of garage rock is to loosely correlate the lack of significant lyrics with the overall musicianship of the band. In a similar fashion, it can be said for laborious psychedelic groups who get too tunnel vision about the effect of their music, ultimately disinteresting listeners. Bee Bee Sea thrives by combining the two in a harmonious manner, essentially acting as a checks and balance system before one element becomes too tyrannical. Much like a sales pitch, BBS throws a sinker to the listener with a catch opener, followed by brief layovers of intensive psychedelic spurts for positive imagination.

The production of their sophomore record is also noticeably cleaner in contrast to their first. Comparatively speaking, the instrumentation ventured over to the deeper end of the pool, but still attaining their jolty rawness in the no diving zone. The element of fidelity can be a delicate situation to work with because too much clarity can ultimately diminish the authenticity many garage rockers hope to achieve. However, returning producers Brown Barcella and Alessio Lonati culminate this record with a well delivered amalgam of lo fidelity garage and entrancing trip psychedelia vignettes.  

With Italy being a relatively bizzare area for such a high energy trio of LSD laced, Red Bull drinkers to originate from, its obvious that they have concocted a formula that works. Their self-titled album built a soapbox for the second album to preach on. Significant strides of maturity and complexity have been made over the short duration of two years. While many of the networking resources are not readily availiable for this sect of music in Italy, it will most likely not deter these strident ambassadors of experimental chaos. I expect much more in the coming years from these trailblazers of sound, hopefully landing them a spot in a Drag City or Fat Possum like label.