Following the release of their second album
>> earlier this year, Geoff
Barrow and co. offer yet another beguiling morsel of improvised, one-take
experimentation.
Mono is engrossing and provoking; whirling synths and intrusive drums immediately
grab your attention. Meanwhile, indistinct vocals that drift in and out and a
twitchy bass line give Mono an
undertone of paranoia and malice. These aspects all subtly weave together to create a
dense collage of noise. As the track progresses the tone becomes even more
menacing, as insistent synths and wailing vocals are piled on top of the already
compressed mixture. By the end, Mono sounds
like a ramshackle ambulance screaming through the streets at night. There is no
obvious song structure as such, just progression, but that’s what Beak> is
all about: throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it sticks. This is
experimentation in the truest sense of the word - something which is rarely this
enjoyable.
Mono may come across as simplistic, but that would be undermining its minimal
and almost primitive appeal. There are no pretensions of complexity and it is
through its simplicity that Mono, and
much of Beak>’s music, achieves its hypnotic quality. It draws you in, and once
you’re hooked that’s it. On the first listen, Mono doesn’t sound like anything particularly special. But it stays
with you and the more you listen to it, the more you get out of it. On about
the third listen I became utterly engrossed, and therein lies my only problem
with Mono: Beak> are not a band to
make up your mind about on first listen. Their music is concretely dense and
almost obstinately inaccessible. You need to work at it and find a chip to
crack into, but once you do the rewards are worth it.
Beak> may not be everyone’s cup of tea,
but if you enjoy minimalist electronica with sincere experimentation then
you’re going to love Mono.
Mono will be released on 7” format through Invada Records on 10th
December, or you can listen to it on Soundcloud here.
JM
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