Album: Sea of Bees, Orangefarben (Heavenly)

This follow-up to last year's Songs forthe Ravens finds singer-songwriter Julie Baenziger, aka Sea Of Bees, drawing strength from sadness.

Orangefarben is a breakup album in which her evident pain is transmuted into poetry and melody which, in turn, feeds back to help her overcome it. Opening track "Broke" outlines her reaction to losing someone she wanted to be her "queen bee", but the exultant melody suggests she is the stronger for it; from there on, she sketches moments from their relationship in sometimes startling imagery – "I try to remember her crooked teeth, how they danced with me" – over a broad range of treatments, from the fingerstyle guitar and mournful cello of "Take" to the fluting mellotron of "Smile". Standouts include a heartbreaking cover of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and the haunted murmur of "More".

DOWNLOAD THIS More; Broke; Teeth; Leaving; Take