Apparently The Honorable Worm used to be a psychedelic folk band, but umm… well, not anymore! This is still folk music I suppose, but the style sounds more like a weird cross between drone and Gregorian Chant and that, in my opinion, is a very good thing.

The Gregorian Chant association might not bother you young ‘uns, but I doubt I am the only person of a certain age who used to fill in those postal album club things (where they sent you five free CDs on an introductory sale or return basis) in a variety of names and get the five free CDs sent to every student flat I ever lived in.

Gregorian Chant was always in there, along with the Utah fucking Saints, and at some point many of us seemed to wonder if we were sophisticated for classical music, took a chance on a couple, and ended up with something by Elgar and Gregorian fucking Chant in the house (I was not the only culprit, I saw this on a few occasions, but was too ashamed to ask about it).  And, it turns out, I am a long way from being sophisticated enough for classical music, although what sort of an idiot starts with Gregorian Chant anyway, you might ask. Well actually you’d be surprised at the sort of shit you could end up ordering from those things once you got to choices number four and five for the third or fourth time.

Gregorian Chant also kind of reminds me of the lamest of post-Lord of the Rings fantasy me-too films (it seems to be to ‘stewards of the land’ what Enya is for elves).  So there are bad associations there, and sometimes this album does trigger them, I have to confess, leaving me just a teeny-tiny little bit uncomfortable.

Don’t take the above ramble seriously though, because it really has nothing to do with the album, beyond a bizarre association it triggered in me for some reason.

So yes, where was I?  Of course, The Honorable Worm. This is a droney album, but not an especially dense one.  What sounds like a harmonium (but could easily be any variation on that squeeze-box configuration) provides a steady buzz in the background, and background vocals wobble slightly above it.  What prevents this arrangement from being all that dense is that the lead vocal is quite light a lot of the time, and there is generally the plucking of a string instrument of a variety of sorts to ensure a little twinkle to lighten up the fug.

Consider the Bees is an album based far more on texture than riff.  The opener Wouldn’t Mind Dying is a gorgeous version of what is apparently a traditional song, slowed to walking pace, like much of the rest of the record. It’s on the following two songs where the above digression was probably triggered, but despite it’s rather silly title “Behind the invisible hedges, into the unimaginable fields…” is nevertheless a wonderfully spooky song.

Sunsick starts out almost a dreamy little acoustic West Coast pop song, although it finishes a good way from that, and it’s moments like this, (Ten Years Ago Today) and the uplifting hopefulness of Russia which break the album up really nicely, making sure the hazy atmosphere never gets oppressive.

Chad Marine, for The Honorable Worm is he, is even donating a dollar from every album sale to Project Apis m. which is investigating the recent decimation of honey bee populations.  I’m not sure how much he is likely to raise, given this album hardly seems to have set the blogosphere alight, but that’s a real injustice if you ask me because Consider the Bees really is bloody good.

The Honorable Worm – Wouldn’t Mind Dying

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The Honorable Worm – Russia

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