Jez Mead - Beard of Bees

Having amassed several  hundred thousand kilometres on his tour bus over the past decade, Melbourne's folk staple Jez Mead has rolled it all together for his fourth album, Beard of Bees. 

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Jez Mead is one of those musicians who seem to have always been there. Whether it's tucked away on a festival line up, popping up on the odd blues and roots compilation or appearing at the country pub that you just happen to drive through on your way interstate, he's become an everlasting, ever reliable folk journeyman. However, despite his deep-rooted presence on the Australian blues/folk scene, he's never really released an album that can reach through his beloved performances to drag him up above the radar. Until now.

With his fourth album, 'Beard of Bees', Jez Mead has succeeded in the challenge of creating an album representative of his live sound. Not only that, but he has also crafted a group of deep, varied and interesting songs from the foot stomping Blues of 'Town's Too Small' to the blisfully down-tempo 'Devil.'  The album's strength lies in a variety across the board that manages to retain an underlying cohesiveness across its whole, a feat that is all to rare. With some at the top of the Australian blues and roots scene like Josh Pyke and Bob Evans struggling to release anything that isn't in someway painfully similar to anything else they've ever done, the variety of 'Beard of Bees' is a welcome change. Whether that results in commercial success, or will fall by the wayside of the spit-and-polish artists will be found in due time, but by all rights, it should find it's place to quite a few sets of ears.

The strength of Jez Mead has always laid in a unique soul brought to the stage that, for reasons unknown, just haven't been written to disc with the same fervour. This time around though, he's shaken off those ghosts to release an album that is quintessentially Jez; an album that is as representative of everything that he brings to the table as a songwriter. Sweeping ballads like 'So Much Love Gone Wrong' and the startlingly pretty duet 'Devil' with Julia Stone highlight his penchant for fingerpicked Blues melodies amongst sincerely modern folk/pop vocals. On the flip side, the up-tempo, at times growled 'Beard of Bees' and 'Be Gone' assert the fact that amongst all the sweet love songs, he's still got a set of balls. 

'Beard of Bees' is an album that pretty well does no wrong. Yes, it's firmly rooted in its genre and does little more fresh than throwback to days past and mix with days new, but maybe the search for originality isn't necessarily something that need be reached. Jez Mead has taken the history of blues, roots and folk, sprinkled it with his own personality and rolled it all into what is truly a superb album. It may not set the charts on fire or prick up enough ears to really spread amongst the blues and roots circles (if there are any), but it's a damn fine effort nonetheless.

Jez Mead's Beard of Bees is out now on Belly Up Music, distributed by EMI.