Beehive

After moving to New York in 2007, Zach Hinkle, a product of the Athens, Georgia music scene, found himself overwhelmed by the frenetic busyness of the ceaseless city. Inspired by his insistent need to insulate himself from its constant distractions, he became a one-man colony of musical production. Locked in the middle section of his one-bedroom railroad apartment, he re-named himself Beehive and recorded several releases including his latest Sun & Scream.

Recorded in several different sessions of extreme creative bursts, Sun and Scream was pieced together like paint-by-numbers work; finishing particular parts only opened Hinkle’s eyes and ears to a larger more fulfilling picture. The album, an electro-pop fuzz rock fusion, takes its drums and drive from the clamor of New York's subway and its melody and mournfulness from the buzz of Big City office life (Hinkle, while recording, worked full-time as an entertainment publicist).

Sun & Scream begins gently with “Pink Slip,” a 52-second keyboard driven track, showcasing electric guitars raining from left to right, vocals heavily soaked in reverb and distortion, moaning with teasing delivery. The track sets up the record for a slow approach into a musical world of tumbling beats, echoes and bed room noises (if you listen closely you might even hear the cracking of a beer or the shaking of a dog’s collar). Scream’s first single and third track “My Need To Stay,” smashes together roaring melodies with chaotic and syncopated beats and finds Hinkle’s vocals spitting off lines like, “Inside these broken eyelids are eyes that follow your mouth with every movement, a laugh and swallow.” The following song, “Wink” a story settled in new beginnings and summer travel, is a slower yet similarly hypnotic track with the protagonist confessing, “I was running out the door when you said your final word, my hands gripping onto bags, your hands gripping on your heart.” Throughout Sun & Scream Hinkle surges through genres pollinating each track with his loose and natural ability of delivery, composition, and lyrics. On “Mirror Mirror,” a successful disco track, heavy beats pound at the ears allowing the stark, repetitious lyrics, “Sometimes I feel like running and sometimes I feel quite stunning.” to wrap around the listeners’ head spreading visions of all night parties, young love, and neurosis. Closing the album is “Department Store Hangover,” a tight beat-driven song echoed with rotating guitar lines and distorted piano and colorful lyrics, all elements that highlight the immediacy of Hinkle’s recording style.

Previously known for his folk-pop solo work as Cherokee (Temporary Living 2007, It’s All Geographical 2008, Cherokee Covers 2009) Hinkle gave birth to Beehive's Sun & Scream in the dark winter days of 2008 and finished the album as the snow was thawing in the spring of '09. As Beehive, he also released the EP I’m Losing My Punk Rock Spirit (April 2008). When asked, Hinkle will admit that Sun & Scream, while a fall album, was born of an essentially winter feeling: “hence the sun—and hence the scream.” The album was recorded entirely in Apartment 2W, 10th St.& A and was mixed and mastered by Ryan Stansky on Pearl Street.