Bob Hillman Photo credit: Sarah Rogers
Bob Hillman hasn’t released a full-length album since Some of Us Are Free, Some of Us Are Lost in 2019, but King of the Bees is his fourth EP since then. It’s not from lack of songs, but rather a desire to make more, different music. Inside & Terrified (2020) was an intimate COVID record with double-tracked vocals, nylon-stringed guitar, and highly musical percussion; Bob Hillman & Spooky Ghost (2020) was a “noise folk” collaboration with former Bowie guitarist Gerry Leonard; and Downtown in the Rain (2023) was built around Greg Leisz’s various slide guitars.
King of the Bees is nothing like any of those, except in terms of the songwriting, which is consistently creative and surprising. The music will appeal to lovers of Brutal Youth era Elvis Costello more than any previous recording by this artist. Costello was one reference point for Hillman and producer/bassist Jonny Flaugher, but drummer Pete Thomas’s participation is a coincidence, since Flaugher happened to know. The rest of the band is Trevor Menear, who plays guitar with Dawes, and Peter Adams, a keyboardist who isn’t associated with one well-known group but whose sounds and choices make him a secret weapon.
King of the Bees was recorded quickly in 2020, when there was no touring and everyone was figuring out home recording, but then took four years to mix. “I was lazy at first, since I had other projects plus my non-musical life, but let it go too long. So much time elapsed between sessions that we’d forget what we wanted to change. I’m glad we got to the end and happy with the results.”
Bands still make this kind of music, but they’re not as central to the musical conversation as they once were. What’s wrong with rock energy and melodic hooks? Nothing, obviously, and it’s even better when there’s a point. You don’t have to listen to the words on King of the Bees, but you won’t regret it if you do.
“The Invisible World,” for example, is about a painting of a painting. Said Hillman,
“My friend Tim Robinson showed me a painting he’d done based on one his great grandfather had done. There’s nothing remarkable about the scene – a sailboat at a small dock with some houses in the background – but I was interested in the exercise, not to mention the effect of time on perspective.”
Unless there’s another unexpected delay, the complete King of the Bees EP will be released on February 13th, 2026.
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