Beak< - Album Review.
I’m a big fan of Portishead, so when I heard about the new side project by Geoff Barrow I was obviously very interested.
His transient group, ‘Beak’ was formed with the help of two other musicians; Matt Williams (from Team Brick) and Billy Fuller (Fuzz against Junk). The whole idea behind the new band was to create an album that worked in the complete opposite way to Portishead. Instead of spending weeks on end trying to perfect each track, Beak would be all about spontaneity and musical improvisation. True to this new philosophy, Beak’s debut album was recorded in one live session. There is no additional fluff or remixing; what they played in the studio that day is exactly what you hear on the CD.
But does it actually work as a whole? Well, these three guys are undoubtedly very talented and recording twelve tracks straight off is no mean feat. However, the overall result is patchy. Looking at it in terms of what they set out to do, they deserve a round of applause. Although I don’t really go in for improvised music as a rule…
Hearing Beak has made me realise just how much I love the polished sound of Portishead’s music. Okay, so they are well-known for being perfectionists who constantly put off their release dates; but when they finally do reveal a new album, it is always well worth the wait.
For me, there are only four or five good tracks on Beak’s CD. I hate to say this, but at times their Kraut Rock style teeters dangerously on the edge of pretentious twaddle. It is all a bit too much of a muchness and makes you wonder if they really did tax their song-writing skills very much at all.
Beak is an interesting little project for Geoff Barrow to mess around with and he probably enjoyed doing something different. But I am personally far more interested in his input into the next (strongly rumoured) Portishead release.