Beacon have announced their upcoming fourth album, Along the Lethe, with the release of an eclectic pair of new songs, “Ostrich” (featuring Colin Stetson) and “Can’t Turn Back.” In addition to new music, the group is embarking on a headlining world tour with a show slated for Los Angeles on Oct. 23 at the Lodge Room in Highland Park and includes one more west coast date on Oct. 15 in Portland at the Holocene. See a full list of dates below.
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Along the Lethe arrives on Sept. 9 on the band’s imprint, Apparent Movement. Composed and produced largely in quarantine, the band pulls from intense imagery for the album title, naming it after the Greek word for oblivion — the Lethe is also one of five rivers in the underworld, where the newly dead drank from to lose all memory of their earthly lives. Along the Lethe is an extremely emotional and mentally stimulating collection of songs that focuses on wanting to forget painful parts of your past while also knowing there is a need to hold onto those memories and lessons, especially the ones that connects us and drive us forward.
“I see Along The Lethe as Jacob and I preserving an extraordinary moment of our lives,” explains Thomas Mullarney III about working with his bandmate Jacob Gossett. “It contains the most difficult and exalted experiences we’ve had creating music together. Writing it down makes it impossible to forget.”
Both new singles reflect one element in the complex and intricate offering to follow. “Ostrich” is a slow and beautifully haunting track, with a driving, yet soft and light, piano and fluttering horns, woodwind and other instrumentation. Like a moment passing through time, neither stopping, slowing nor speeding up, the tune floats through the air as it reverberates an undeniable impermanence. At its musical core, the song was inspired by a tuning technique used by Lou Reed and John Cale in The Velvet Underground. From there, Mullarney III and Gossett built up the single to be layered with instrumentation and hypnotic synth.
With “Can’t Turn Back,” Beacon create an equally mesmerizing soundscape, this time driven by heavy synth and atmospheric, echoey vocals that cascade throughout the track. Whereas the previous tune was light and almost euphoric, “Can’t Turn Back” retains an almost ominous quality, with a dark energy looming throughout as Mullarney III sings about losing himself in the “constant darkness.”
Known for their electric stage presence, the band takes their new music on the road with several North American and European dates set. This will be the band’s first tour dates since the pandemic.
Words: Patti Sanchez
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BEACON 2022 WORLD TOUR DATES
Sep 10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records
Sep 13 – Boston, MA @ Middle East
Sep 14 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
Sep 25 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
Oct 6 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
Oct 15 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
Oct 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
Nov 15 – Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat
Nov 17 – Budapest, Hungary @ Turbina
Nov 18 – Glasgow, UK @ The Hug &w Pint
Nov 19 – Manchester, UK @ YES
Nov 20 – London, UK, @ Nells
