Beeautiful

Last night Seattlest heard Persephone's Bees way before we saw them. The deepthroaty vocals of Angelina Moysov belting "Way to Your Heart" wafted in the air outside Chop Suey. Inside, it was a sparsely attended show, but the mostly seated crowd was pretty enthusiastic for Oakland-based sunny pop. The pink swirl lights at each side of the stage were clearly there to indicate the band was "psychedelic," but it verged into the cheesy mid-set when the spinning yellow triangle came into the picture. Overplayed! Still, the all-brunette foursome delivered a fun forty minutes in advance of their debut release this Tuesday.

Bassist Bart Davenport was a highly extroverted Ramone, having a great time playing to the crowd. Meanwhile, behind the keyboard and clad in a black high-waisted jumpsuit and matching knee-high boots, Ms. Moysov was the real center of attention, a charismatic performer with strong bone structure and a soft Russian accent to her speaking voice and lilt. Had a certain friend of ours been present, he would've sighed, "She's pretty."

As a band, Persephone's Bees' sound borrows heavily from the late 60s; they make excellent use of echo in "Climbing," and Beatles harmonies circa "Strawberry Fields" in their single "Nice Day." Live, they did an extended version of the latter track, where they broke it all down. We were sure that they'd bring it on back, but instead the song just ended abruptly. Whoa. PB hit up most of the album, including "Muzika Dlya Fil'ma," also known as "That Song in Russian." At 11:10pm, the set was done right on time.

So we went home and watched a little Flavor of Love 2, in spite of ourselves. For shame.