For their latest release >>, Beak> return us to their Bristol recording room to present the newest of their stark, doom-gaze mutations. Whether the double greater-than symbol is an extension of the character that follows the band’s name or a quantitative trigger signifying a much greater qualitative achievement– or something entirely different, I’m not sure– Beak> have reemerged with a 10-song expression that bleeds and heeds a functionality more powerful and expansive than their eponymous debut.
>> is a mesmerizing bad-touch, allowing you to lose yourself in some sinister thousand-petal lotus pattern. Sometimes it’s the bass. Sometimes it’s the percussion. Steady. Hypnotic. Locking ever inch of your consciousness into a spiraling vortex of viscous black liquid constantly in flux.
By agitating the likes of ambient ‘70s horror, jazz, shoegaze, and desert rock, the trio– comprised of Geoff Barrow, Billy Fuller, and Matt Williams– flex the depths of their project’s dour beginnings to cultivate a brooding lushness that’ll have black nail polish questioning its authenticity. Shackled and braced, the attention span is at the whim of the brew. The sheer lock, creeping through every canal. Every passage way. Is it infecting or enlightening? A parasite or a boon to your system? These questions can only be treated within. Only within can it allow you to go beyond. Let it enter your ears. Seep, bleed, choke, release. Beak> could give a shit about ritualistic candles, cloaks, pentagrams, and all the other Lucky Charm archaic occult novelties. Welcome back doom. Forget fashion. That purity looks damn good on you.
