Beehive Mind: Vinyl LP

Label: Post Present Medium
Release Date: 31st May

Perfect proper indie this, kid. Ragged, jangly, Mo Tucker rhythms and wonderfully cutting lyrics. 

To address the weight of the world without speaking of weariness. To march the song to breathlessness but loosen your grip when the band wanders. To tell all your secrets but shield your loved ones from vulnerability. To dress up in the charm and temptation of the pop song but maintain a core of peculiarity, of a single voice trying to navigate this world. This is the project of the Spatulas.

Think of the few songwriters who know they’re the only ones in the world who could write their songs. The ones who sing in the confidence that the song couldn’t exist without them: Peter Jefferies, Jenny Mae, Ron House, Heather Lewis. Jonathan Richman? Put Miranda Soileau-Pratt and the Spatulas on this list.

All eleven songs on debut album ‘Beehive Mind’ share a percussive, unshadowed presence, a steady, clear-voiced clop. Every note on the record is a little bit sad on its own but then they’re organized in a way that you don't actually notice. Credit this to the band’s skill - Jon Grothman, Lila Jarzombek, Kyle Raquipiso and Miranda Soileau-Pratt all play with no limits and they all play with profound ease.

The songs breathe in warmth and patience, they are immediate and sweet. And then they start to meander. The guitar skitters with the deliberate unpredictability of a wild animal. Parts repeat and reset with the obsessiveness of an anxious mind.

The lyrics open doors to unexpected scenes of lovers, family, and violence. This is all intentional: “I need to play music and listen to music as a form of therapy,” explains Soileau. This means safety, this means encouragement, this means trauma, this means hard questions. Only a band so comfortable at the margins, only a band so capable, only a band so trusting can achieve all this.

Miranda Solileau-Pratt wrote the first Spatulas song in 2020, while living in Oregon. Since that time, the band have released two cassettes and toured the United States. Members of the Spatulas have also played in The Blimp, Honey Bucket, Hot Gum and Meerkaz. The band have shared stages with Helen, Lavender Flu, Debt Rag, Pink Reason, Blues Ambush and Kath Bloom.