Ghost Bees’ Sari and Romi Lightman at Ragpickers, Winnipeg, Aug 11 2009. Dallas Ludwick photo.
Review – Ghost Bees at Lo Pub, Winnipeg, May 27 2009
– by Eugene Osudar
Ghost Bees
ethereal
enchanting
enthralling
softly
playing
acoustics
mandolin
and guitar
plucking
and picking
Sirens
highly pitched
Twins
fertile shared brains
Sisters
enchanting
Voices
enthralling
Choices
envisioning
“We Love Leonard Cohen,”
says Romy, 5 minutes
older than Sari,
when i tell
her of the poem
i wrote after L
Cohen’s wondrous
Winnipeg show
the songs,
Sinai
Night
Tasseomancy
Murmur’s Lullaby
Ashkelon
Diana (so new a song
that they agreed on the title
as Romy wrote
the set list in my journal)
6 songs
34 minutes
words
and
music and
pendants
and crystals
and teas
of spring
for sale
witch,craft
vampires
blood,
dripping
down
white wedding
dresses
and spells
cast
by their voices
enchantments
teeth buried deep
\on throat/
flesh
burgundy
blood
“you came tumbling and i was sorry”
the birthing song
the breathing song
the agreed song
of sisters
twins
together
embryos
embers and fires
butchers and breath
firsts and fists
and indelicate shit
tumbling on
“mother’s bruised thighs”
rotten wombs
“one’s your foe
and
one’s your flame”
baby’s teeth marks
exposing
cries
like shrouded whispers
of forgotten pain
who is sane
who is Now
sisters/sirens/twins
pray
just pray/
they feel ancient
from other worlds
parallel universes
and yet they feel
newly born
every time they
open their mouths
to sing
to bring
you closer
nearer to
the holy womb
bleeding,
needing
open
and
bursting
“hello everybody, we’re from Halifax.
We used to live there.
Today, we’re (living) in Winnipeg.
This is the title track from our
album (Tasseomancy).
it’s dedicated to our great,
great great grandma.”
(i may have missed a great)
weaving magic
realism
(daggers and devils)
the way Isabelle
Allende and
Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
imagine
it
stones
cast
by
whimsical
sisters
fantastical
characters
like Dickens
full of flesh
full of shit
Murmur’s Lullaby
“you shouldn’t fall
asleep driving the big drives
of this vast beautiful country.
it’s a dark song. i wouldn’t
suggest you sing it to your
children any time soon.”
veils of darkness
and woodsheds
mysterious
ominous
“the last song is about witches.
we have teas for sale. and crystal
pendants, if anyone is interested
in magic. this song is for all
the witches
in the world.
it’s a new song.”
Timber Timbre
sound like Jim Jarmusch
film songs
John Lurie music
with Tom Waits
lyrics, compared
to Iron and Wine
lap steel
Taylor Kirk on electric
40 minutes
low-fi-moody-blues
perfectly coupled
with Ghost Bees
It’s Only Dark
Under Your Spell
Lay Down in The Tall Grass
Demon Mist
Like a Mountain
Trouble Comes Knocking
There Is a Cure
kirk says,”i’m drunk.
i don’t recommend
drinking and driving
but driving, and then,
drinking
works out
pretty well.”
tones and textures
brooding and moody
dark and darker
gray and grayer still
shades
shadier
throbbing
suspense
expectations
low-fi
not hi-fi
as for Clues
and here i am
loving it
still,
a week later
a week after
this is perfect 3 or 4
or 5 AM music
as the sun rises
and birds sing
outside
your window
on a summer’s night
returns to day
like Bongwater
Cowboy Junkies
Cat Power
misty
music
deep dark
woods
knives
Trouble
Comes
Knocking
burgundy
blood,
vampires
sisters
throats
slit
stay awake at night
eyes
wide
shut
“no one came knocking
no one came calling”
“watch out
and beware”
‘when trouble
comes knocking
i hope
you’re not
there.”
Lo Pub
May 27
