The Philadelphia band Paper Bee includes members of All Dogs and Radiator Hospital, and they’ve just announced a new album called Thaw, Freeze, Thaw that will be released next month. Lead single “I Don’t Talk To You” is simmering and intimate, or at least it starts out that way before curdling into a cascade of fuzzy guitars and intertwining harmonies: “I haven’t really felt lonely since I left/ You made me feel things much worse than loneliness.” Bandleader Nick Berger had this to say about this album in some notes over on Bandcamp:
we recorded most of this at a cabin in rural pa called hinter eche in december of 2020 and then added some bits here and there throughout 2021-22. i did my first shot of testosterone 2 days after we got home from recording. this album is a lot of things for me – its the last documentation of my old singing voice which i loved a lot, a story about love and harm between traumatized trans people, a project that kept me going in 2020, and just some songs that are really fun to play with my friends. i’m pretty sure this is my favorite thing i’ve ever made. I hope you like it too. 3 nick
Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Tuscon”
02 “Body Of Water”
03 “The Heat”
04 “Thaw”
05 “To Be Soft”
06 “Mud”
07 “My Love Is”
08 “Love Is Not”
09 “I Don’t Talk To You”
10 “Mine”
11 “What’s Left”
12 “Like Oceans”
13 “The Little Mermaid Is Actually Not A Perfect Metaphor For Being Trans”
14 “An End”
Thaw, Freeze, Thaw is out 5/19 via Get Better Records. Pre-order it here.