The changing of the seasons is often used as a metaphor for evolving emotions, but each one impacts our moods and our mindset too. That’s something that Beetlebug knows better than most. The 22-year-old’s debut EP ‘all ash is snow’ beautifully captures that feeling, its six songs moving very naturally from autumn cosiness to mid-winter gloom, before spring heralds the dawn of new beginnings and summer brings a bright ray of optimism. Listen HERE.
The EP’s previous singles – ‘embers’, ‘scarecrow’, ‘equinox’, ‘until the end’ and ‘summerspring’ – have exuded that quality, each one rich with the charm, warmth and bright tones that permeates everything that Beetlebug pens. Thematically, It’s just as heartening as the music, with a celebration that everything is cyclical and all things must pass.
The ‘all ash is snow’ EP is completed by a new song in the shape of its title track. As gentle as a lullaby, it’s a song as fleeting as its subject matter – the idea that impermanence and renewal means that nothing is forever, and all of the simultaneous wonder and sorrow that comes with it.
Released via MNRK / Folketown (The Lumineers, Gregory Alan Isakov, Loving), the entirely self-produced and self-written‘all ash is snow’ EP is the first extended project in Beetlebug’s immensely promising career.
Beetlebug says, “ ‘all ash is snow’ is a collection of songs that is held together by cycles, while feeling like one turn of the page in and of itself. I began conceiving this project during lockdown and though it has evolved and moulded into different shapes over time, the inevitability of time passing and things ending has always been a strong part of this project. While holding frustration and a wistfulness towards things that were or could have been, this EP for me is largely hopeful. Change has always felt particularly overwhelming to me, but this project felt like growing towards accepting that nothing will ever remain as before, and rather than clinging desperately to the familiar, looking back fondly while embracing what is yet to come”.
As a child, Beetlebug moved from town to town with her family. While she is now based in the north-east, it was the fields and forests on the outskirts of Hereford where she fell in love with the beauty and peace that nature brings – and that imagery is a big part of her artistic style today. She was raised in a home filled with music, from the alt-rock her dad loved, to Americana and the folk-pop of artists such as Jack Johnson and Katie Melua. While she initially had doubts about focusing on a career in music, the more shows she attended, the deeper she fell under its spell.
She stepped out in modest fashion by sharing her covers via YouTube, building the roots of a fanbase that blossomed in 2020 when she wrote ‘Ode to L’Manburg’, inspired by the ‘Minecraft’ server created by internet personalities Dream and GeorgeNotFound. It went viral with over two million views, which led to Beetlebug beckoning many more newcomers into her creative world with other early originals such as ‘overgrown garden’ and ‘cat serenade’.
Citing influences spanning the 1970s to the present day, including Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan, Adrianne Lenker / Big Thief, Haley Heynderickx and Beabadoobee. Unique but intriguing and appealing, Beetlebug’s music could connect with fans of the more serene moments of Angie McMahon, Noah Kahan, Laura Marling and Taylor Swift.
