Life these days wears you out. What better way to escape the grind than to sing about it?
“Bumblebees” is a German indie-folk song about a very simple fantasy: be free from the noise, reacquaint yourself with nature, be with the people you love, and live happily ever after. In other words, it’s a hippy song. However, it’s a hippy song that won’t make you want to throw your speakers in a river.
The central concept of Vüxin isn’t exactly revolutionary: folk music has been trying to convince us that civilization is a horrible waste while trees are the best thing that’s ever happened since about five minutes after civilization first invented folk music. “Bumblebees” is effective because it is so unceremoniously committed to ignoring that fact.
Instead, the song settles into its atmosphere. Vüxin’s take on it always lends a certain intimacy to the track, and her vocals don’t have that super-polished quality to them that can sometimes make current indie-folk seem a bit too sterile. There’s warmth in the air, but also an edge, which prevents this song from feeling like a granola ad.
What I love most about this record is contrast. Vüxin’s songwriting draws from her environment and nature, but that doesn’t mean that she’ll be singing about sunshine, flowers and acoustic guitars (though I’m sure she’d do that if she wanted to.) Her songs walk the line in the middle of two opposing feelings; between bright and dark, between calm and movement, between far away and right next to you.
Ironies abound in finding this song about fleeing society as a recorded track that will find its way to your phone, laptop, or Bluetooth speaker. However, that also means this track isn’t an instruction manual on how to escape civilization as we know it. Vüxin isn’t saying you have to run to the woods and become a woodland cryptid. She’s providing you with the fantasy of leaving it all behind and honestly, fair enough.
“Bumblebees” is not attempting to reinvent indie-folk, nor would it be able to, but it doesn’t need to. The beauty lies in the details; the intricate tapestry of arrangements, charismatic vocals, subtle changes in tone, and dimly lit mood. Vüxin is a newcomer to the music scene, but she already seems to have a musical universe of her own, and visiting it is enticing.
Sometimes the quietest protests we can participate in are just making music that reminds us there’s more out there than what’s on the screen and, yeah, maybe we should head on over there.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for various publications around the world, the former lead writer of review blogspace Atop The Treehouse and content creator for Manila Bulletin.
