The chilling tale of “Telling The Bees” from Nova Soon

There is an old tradition of beekeepers whispering their secrets to the hive, hoping they’ll lead them to heaven. “Telling The Bees” follows Holly, a city girl who hears of this tale, as she heads to the prairie to witness this. But she gets more than she bargained for.

Nova Soon’s clear and conspiratorial tone captures the ghost-story tone beautifully from the first notes. The dirty guitar rhythms, bouncing the song forward, sets the stage for this alt-country shuffle.

“The queen and all her drones guiding your feet,” Noah de Grunwald sings to set up Holly stumbling onto the preacher and his turn with the bees. The literary ballad shifts from foreshadowing to action. The preacher makes “a gentle confession that made her blood freeze.”

As the dark and minor-bluesy tones become an ethereal, otherworldly harmony, ghostly keys and synths with backing “sha-la-las” and a repeated “down to paradise” guide Holly, the preacher, and all of us listeners away.

In true McGuffin fashion, we never learn the preacher’s secret. But that makes it all the more terrifying as we descend with him and Holly. The ominous trombone sends us off with the percussion and quietly jazzy melody.

Stream “Telling The Bees” below.

Ben McCoy

Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.