Gingerbee- Apiary ALBUM REVIEW
the cover for “Apiary” created by Leah Schram
[Tuesday, August 5th, 2025]
To say Gingerbee is a unique band is quite an understatement. The band, based in literally all over the continent (with members located in Toronto, San Antonio, Chicago, and even Florianopolis, SC, Brazil) recorded Apiary, their new album, remotely. Members of the band recorded parts indivdually, which were then compiled into a single project file. Featuring contributions from Jacob West of Summer 2000 and Tilley Komorny of Home Is Where, the pure passion and love baked into these six tracks is palpable.
The album opens with “Petal Dance”, which introduces itself with a playful landscape framed by cello, piano, and horns. Drums kick in, and suddenly, we’re jolted awake and lifted into a whimsical new passage. Gustavo Nome enters the picture and delivers the first words of Apiary: “you cry while im passing out // turn around and ask “did you ever really care?”// we sit there arms crossed falling asleep alone again”. The sweet turns to sour when Dani Giguerre suddenly cuts off Nome with primal, frantic shrieks that pummel and pierce, accompanied by an instrumental that buzzes like a swarm of angry bees. A jazzy, bossanova-esque section cuts in, before Nome swings back around, kicking the track into high gear once again. To close the track out, Gingerbee gently sets us down with a lovely kiss on the forehead: a sweet seranade of strings, guitar, piano, and glockenspiel.
“Say the Rest” opens with with a slick, jazzy guitar, before Giguerre jumps in and unleases some more sonic fury. Carolina Diamantaras enters the track and brings us some clean vocals, providing the yin to Giguerre’s yang. Around a minute and a half in, a lonely piano takes center stage, setting the stage for an exhilarating up-tempo outro led by synths and sax.
“Honey”, the longest and last song of the six, is no doubt a grand exit. Nome opens the track gingerly, singing “I turned into the sun yesterday // And I want to feel like this for a long time // And love comes again stronger than the last time // It wraps me up and lays me to rest”. “Honey” really displays the orchestral, soft side of Gingerbee, with piano, cello, violin, alto & tenor sax, flute, clarinet, and slide guitar, all joining forces to build a comfy pillow of sound. Gingerbee places the listener on a beautful pink cloud, ascending higher, and higher, and higher, before suddenly giving way from underneath, and we fall from the heavens down straight to earth with one last loud, epic crescendo. Giguerre, behind the overwhelming wall of sound, almost inaudibly screams the final words of Apiary: “I’m yours”. The wall of sound dies out, the skies clear, and Gingerbee closes the record how it began: a beautiful collection of instruments singing as sweet as can be. Flutes, strings, upright bass all wrap and seal the album up with a nice, pretty bow.
Apiary is an incredible display of musicianship, filled to the brim with creativity and wild new sounds. Everybody involved in the making of this record did a fantastic job, and if Gingerbee set out to create one of the most eclectic, brilliant set of emo songs to come out this decade, then they succeded.
If it’s not clear by this review, I really enjoyed this project! Although it means the world to me that you sat down to read this, nothing substitutes giving it a listen for yourself. Here are links to listen and support Gingerbee:
-Alexavier
