Beetlebug is one of those artists for whom serenity is a virtue. There’s no boisterous showboating or thumping, wall-of-sound production, but Beetlebug’s beautifully crystalline voice, evocative poetry and pastoral folk-pop exudes a deeper charm – one that almost subliminally beguiles you before drawing you deeper into her artistic world. She’s new set to beckon newcomers to her tender, hopeful sound with the release of her debut EP ‘all ash is snow’ on November 8th. She steps towards the EP’s release by sharing its new single ‘scarecrow’.
‘scarecrow’ has the warmth of a song you feel as if you should have always known. It channels the spirit of Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker in its naturalistic production and masterful storytelling, and also feels in the lineage of Randy Newman in the way that it melds cynicism with sincerity. It’s a song of heartbreaking loneliness, with the scarecrow a relatable metaphor for a life spent observing but never fully engaging.
Beetlebug says, “‘scarecrow’ is ultimately a song about estrangement from the world, watching it move ahead as you struggle to follow. It’s a yearning to share common experiences yet knowing it may not be within your nature. There is an isolation in wanting desperately to belong, to be needed, and the loss of identity that conspires from purposelessness. I’ve always found the idea of scarecrows incredibly lonely, watching everything unfold around you at arms length while remaining steadfast and unchanging; the thrust of your existence weighted in being feared. I found it to tie nicely as a metaphor for the themes I wanted to explore within this song.”
As with Beetlebug’s recent singles ‘embers’ and ‘to the end’, ‘scarecrow’ was solely written and produced by Beetlebug, and will feature on the six-song ‘all ash is snow’ EP alongside three as yet unreleased tracks. Collectively the EP shares a concise reminder that it’s OK to feel out of sorts with the rest of the world, and that our differences should be celebrated.
Beetlebug – the 23-year-old born Aurelia Hanford – has been nurturing her talents since childhood. Some influences seep into her songwriting subconsciously, such as her childhood love of nature and animals, while others are more direct, such as her appreciation for artists old and new, including Haley Heynderickx and Vashti Bunyan.
Pursuing a career in music was at first an internal dilemma, but the more that Beetlebug experienced live music, the more she felt that this life would be her calling too. She first nurtured an audience via sharing covers of her favourite songs via YouTube. Struggling with writer’s block during lockdown, she instead experimented with penning less personal songs, which resulted in ‘Ode To L’Manburg’, which was inspired by the phenomenon of the Minecraft server created by the internet personalities Dream and GeorgeNotFound. Two million views later, she had connected with an evolving and highly engaged audience, one that has grown with her alongside originals such as ‘overgrown garden’, ‘cat serenade’ and ‘my dear friends’.
Now ‘all ash is snow’ will take Beetlebug through summer and deep into the autumn months, this so far best kept secret extending an invitation for like-minded souls to join her.
