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 BEULAH
WHEN YOUR HEARTSTRINGS BREAK
SUGAR FREE
After mushrooming
onto the music scene in the mid-'60s, psychedelic pop ruled the rock world
for the rest of the decade. The genre's reign, however, was short-lived.
By the early '70s, psychedelic pop had gone from queen bee to battered
mistress. The few bands that peddled psych pop in the '70s and '80s
received little attention and even less respect.
Now, 30 years after
its birth, psychedelic pop is getting a makeover. A group of bands
known as the Elephant 6 Collective has brought the classic psychedelic
sounds to the forefront of indie pop. Of this talented group of psych
pop revivalists, Beulah are at the head of the class.
When Your Heartstrings
Break is Beulah's second full-length release. The album is filled
with harps, oboes, muted horns, sleigh bells, and banjos--all evoking the
sounds created by Brian Wilson on Pet Sounds. But Beulah throw
their own quirky twists into the mix. On "Score From Augusta," for
example, the banjo plays a key role. Unlike Brian Wilson, Beulah
treat the instrument with a heavy dose of distortion. Beulah also
add synth sounds to many tracks, like "Matter Vs. Space," giving the album
an anachronistic feel.
Although When Your
Heartstrings Break features a variety of instruments, the horn section
is what gives the album its unique sound. This isn't your typical
horn section; this is more like mariachi. And the music world hasn't
seen anything quite like it since Johnny Cash recruited a mariachi band
for "Ring Of Fire" back in the early '60s.
The lyrics on When
Your Heartstrings Break are a little "out there," but occasionally
Beulah surprise the listener with some clever words. On "Silverado
Days," the singer croons, "Even though we don't mean what we say/we throw
our words like bombs and hand grenades." In a lyrical land of smoke
and mirrors, these words appear like rabbits out of a hat.
When Your Heartstrings
Break provides a nice introduction to both psych pop revival and the
Elephant 6 sound. There's no denying that the album is derivative
of the classic '60s psych pop sound, but Beulah--along with other Elephant
6 bands--put their own mark on this music. They make it their own.
If Beulah lights up your world with technicolor swirls, the Apples in Stereo's
Tone
Soul Evolution is another excellent Elephant 6 recording.
PIGEONHOLE: Psych pop revival from the head of the Elephant 6 class.
CAVEATS: The
lyrics are a little "out there." This stuff might also be a bit too
derivative of the '60s psychedelic sound for some listeners.
Andrew
Helminger
listen to samples
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