We are living on borrowed BEAK> time. Come the 7th of April next year at the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver, Canada this iteration of the Bristol trio – Billy Fuller (bass guitar, vocals), Will Young (keyboards, guitar), Geoff Barrow (drums, vocals) – will cease to exist. Following that last date of their upcoming North American tour, Barrow will leave the band he co-founded 15 years ago for reasons he cited as being due to “a dodgy ankle and other work I need to do before I get too old.”
The Brudenell in Leeds is the location for BEAK>’s penultimate gig on British soil. It sold out weeks ago. Their final show in this country will take place, just as it should do, in their home city of Bristol on the 14th of December.
They open with ‘Strawberry Line,’ their reflective eight-minute lament for Barrow’s dog Alfie who sits on high on the cover of BEAK>’s latest album, >>>>, overlooking Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge his laser-beam eyes bearing down on the three band members with love in his heart. Alfie had been with BEAK> from the very beginning and his recent loss is keenly felt.
But any mourning at his passing and collective sadness for the impending end of this version of BEAK> dissipates as the three musicians dive headlong into the body of >>>>. “We will play the last album in full,” says Geoff Barrow, almost by way of an apology, “then get into the good ones.”
Whilst his irony could easily have been lost in translation, there was absolutely no cause for regret because the material from the latest record is as strong as anything that BEAK> have produced. And if >>>> is to be their studio swansong then it is a mighty fine way to depart.
Performed in the order in which they appear on the record, these songs become even more expansive in concert. Intuitive by design, they harness progressive flourishes and on ‘Hungry Are We’ there are even some exquisite West Coast (of America) harmonies as the voices of Barrow and Fuller dovetail together. The sense of creative unity the three men generate together is there for all to see and hear.
The darker claustrophobia of ‘Cellophane’ brings BEAK>>>> to a dramatic close before Billy Fuller prepares us for their “greatest hits.” Just in case an eyebrow may have been raised at his assertion – BEAK> are certainly not a band who routinely trouble the Top 40 – he adds that they most definitely have “a few bangers.”
And he is not wrong in his assertion as in the second half of their performance BEAK> get stuck into material drawn from their first three albums, locking right into a relentless groove driven along by Fuller and Barrow’s thunderous rhythm over which Young’s buzzing keyboards and occasional guitar explode. The propulsive motorik beat and neo-psychedelic flourishes remind us all of what we are sadly going to miss after the 7th of April next year.
Mention has also to be made of support act LITRONIX, the LA artist who has recently been signed to Invada Records, the independent record company founded by Geoff Barrow and home to a host of experimental musicians. Kevin Litrow, the man who is LITRONIX, is a fearlessly singular talent who combines a dizzying mesh of synths, loops, pedals, and guitar with an otherworldly voice to create an innovative futuristic sound.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos of BEAK> and LITRONIX at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds
