For their third album, Brooklyn blues-rock duo She Keeps Bees headed out to a secluded cabin in the Catskill Mountains, presumably to escape the claustrophobic confines of their usual urban setting. Their rural surroundings imbue Dig On – their first release since 2008′s Nests – with a sense of space, sure, but you would never mistake these escapist New Yorkers for natives of the Mississippi delta.
Jessica Larrabee and Andy LaPlant, on guitar/vocals and drums respectively, make up another in a long line of blues-rock bassless duos from White Stripes to Black Keys. Larrabee, though, seems more interested in her guitar’s ominous clean tones than in fuzzy distortion, and her voice has no trouble taking the forefront. On that count, it’s hard not to compare her to PJ Harvey or Cat Power, but it’s a lazy comparison. She’s got her own chops, and an almost hypnotic lackadaisical approach that is at once lulling and imposing.
