Belle and Sebastian have been keeping busy during self-isolation. The Scottish indie pop band has shared a two-part collaborative project called “Protecting The Hive,” which includes lyrics created and submitted by B&S fans.
The first part of the project is a mixed-media piece narrated by Stuart Murdoch and Alessandra Lupo over aerial shots of a quiet, pedestrian-free Glasgow.
We present today part 1 of a new project ‘Protecting The Hive’ featuring brand new music, and words contributed by fans here on Twitter. The piece narrated by Stuart and Alessandro Lupo is accompanied by these arresting visuals by Kenny MacLeod. https://t.co/gLuNyiAM2p
— belle & sebastian (@bellesglasgow) April 21, 2020
Murdoch begins the evocative and melancholy narration, “I feel different every hour / And I honestly had no idea that sadness and fear came in so many shapes, shades and sizes.”
Lupo reads, “It feels like everything is coming to an end / We are making cupcakes / The blackbirds are singing,” accompanied by images of an empty city street.
Kenny MacLeod shot and edited the haunting video, while Chris Geddes, the band’s keyboardist, created the music.
For the second part of the project, Belle and Sebastian will be sharing a work-in-progress demo based off of the same lyrics. The band will release the demo on Friday, April 24 as audio files to encourage listeners at home to experiment with the recordings.
In a message to fans, Murdoch wrote, “Ok, I’ve got an idea. I come up with lots of tunes but the band aren’t around just now, and I rely on them to turn them into pop. How about we make a tune together using remote technology?” he asks.
Murdoch explains, “Send me a few sentences or a paragraph, I’ll try to funnel those words into a song, then I’ll record an acoustic version of it and bounce it back to you. Then it’s up to you to do what you want to do with it! You have GarageBand, Zoom, whatever. A collaboration.”
Check out the video and album art for “Protecting The Hive” below.
Protecting The Hive Album Art:
