If the Black Keys and Cat Power ever procreated, they might have named their offspring She Keeps Bees. (Cat Power’s second cousin, the Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom, would complete the DNA strand.) Singer/guitarist Jessica Larrabee actually birthed She Keeps Bees when she began recording music in her Brooklyn apartment back in 2005, later adding co-producer Andy LaPlant on drums. Larrabee’s soulful howl is a delight, and from the opening handclaps of the a cappella “Ribbon” (where Larrabee’s vocal styling dares to recall Nina Simone), you know Nests will be something unique. Her blues-drenched Fender Mustang reverberates with distortion, her scratchy vibrato and alluring lyrics drip with sensuality. “Work me/like my back ain’t got no bone,” she drawls on the grinding “Gimme,” while cymbals crash and hiss at a safe distance. “I’m your punisher/I’ve got some nerve,” she warns on “My Last Nerve.” If you don’t think acoustic guitar can be sexy, give “Wear Red” a try; if slow has never been your thing, the serpentine “Get Gone” will change your mind. Nests is lean, mean and gloriously intoxicating.
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