Having so far previewed the November 8th release of her debut EP ‘all ash is snow’ with ‘until the end’, ‘embers’, ‘scarecrow’ and ‘summerspring’, Beetlebug now shares a final taster in the shape of the new single ‘equinox’. Her recent singles have impacted numerous key streaming playlists including Gentle and Sad Girl Autumn at Spotify and INDIY at Apple, in the process aligning Beetlebug as a serene, elegiac and philosophical artist who can appeal to fans of Angie McMahon, Noah Kahan, Laura Marling and Taylor Swift.
Drawing parallels between the changing of the seasons and the fleeting nature of existence is a regular motif within Beetlebug’s music, and that’s particularly true of ‘equinox’. Capturing the stark beauty of winter, Beetlebug’s vocal harmonies drift daintily like slow-falling snowflakes, her lyrics (“Once a warm scarlet flame burning bright as the day… to a smouldering funeral pyre”) both enchanting and devastating in a way that feels like a spiritual follower to ‘Watership Down’. Listen HERE.
Beetlebug says, “‘equinox’ is about transition, the circular nature of life and death. It acts as the bridge between the two halves of my EP ‘all ash is snow’, and explores the idea of accepting the inevitability of change and ending.”
As with the majority of the EP, Beetlebug wrote, performed, produced and mixed ‘equinox’ alone. It is also an EP with an unusual story behind its creation: she only chose to use a recording studio for its sessions as the noise of the carwash opposite her bedroom DIY space would seep into the quieter moments of her recordings.
There’s a feeling of free-spirited liberation and homegrown honesty within Beetlebug’s music. It’s a quality that could be explained by her first steps in music. As a child she studied music, but by her late teens became far more immersed in the infinite possibilities of writing her own songs and learning to self-produce via GarageBand rather than the structured process of conventional education.
Her first release was ‘Ode To L’Manburg’, a paean to the Minecraft server created by the internet personalities Dream and GeorgeNotFound, which laid the foundations for Beetlebug’s committed and engaging following with two million views. That first wave of interest, combined with lockdown offering hours of freedom for songwriting, set Beetlebug on the path to her future. A series of organic, self-released tracks followed before she made more considered plans for the ‘all ash is snow’ EP campaign.
Her influences spin between the past (Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan) and the present (Adrianne Lenker / Big Thief, Haley Heynderickx and Beabadoobee), giving Beetlebug her own identity – an artist with an appealing timelessness that culturally feels completely in tune with 2024.
