Beulah - The Coast is Never Clear
(Velocette)
When you think about it, what Beulah does isn't that special. I mean, all they do is combine the guitar rock and slacker style of Pavement with the Pet Sounds-obsessed pop of the Apples in Stereo and then add over the top Burt Bacharach-style orchestration. That's all Beulah, really is, right?
Hold on. What the hell am I saying? Why am I trying to undersell this band? Pavement is a great band. Pet Sounds is a great album. And who the hell is talking bad about Burt Bacharach? Let me know who the hell said anything bad about Burt, and I'll let Elvis Costello know right away. Saying Beulah is a mixture of those three artists should be seen as paying Beulah a huge compliment.
Beulah's third album, The Coast is Never Clear, takes the same form as the band's last album, When Your Heartstrings Break, but is given a more professional, clean sound (the album was intended for release on the now dead major Capricorn). The mood is much less casual here, everything must be spot on, each instrument (of which there are many) at the right place at the right time. As a result, the washes of warm orchestration and odd instrumentation come in crisper and fuller and have a greater effect.
The Pavement-uosity of the band is evident in the more rock songs. The band's first album, Handsome Western States, was pure Pavement-isms, which they grew out of quickly but always kept as a smaller part of the sound. What other than a Pavement addiction can explain "Gene Autry," which like a Pavement song is centered on an obscure pop culture reference and uses odd twists in language to turn a weird fortune cookie sentiment, "Everybody drowns sad and lonely," into a pop chorus. The country two-step guitar hook is also quite Pavement-like, letting the obscure reference filter down into the music, but Pavement never ever backed a song with tubular bells, not to mention the (not one but) two trumpets.
While several songs, like "Gene Autry" and the tribute to punk, "Silver Lining," have fun being about nothing, other songs deal with stealing lovers and having lovers stolen away. Standout track, "A Good Man is Easy to Kill," sets the tone for the record after a short lead-in track with its funky flute solos and trumpet blares. The song is a shiny, happy burst of pop sunshine, the flute freakouts and chorus of "baba-ba-ba-badada"s being hard to resist as the singer lets a taken lady friend know he is (insanely) interested. Paisley ballad "Hey Brother" is a caution to the lady's current love that he is lurking in the background, saying his decision to "move back East where men are men" might not be such a smart move.
Ballads like these are sweet and syrupy, letting the soft sounds of the trumpet and Miles Kurosky's voice lead the track. "What Will You do When Your Suntan Fades" is the strongest ballad on the album and, oddly enough, is also the most sparsely orchestrated, using some piano and percussion but largely just using vocals and trumpet for melody. The piano does little figure eights in the background as Kurosky's voice gives the song a very relaxed vibe. With all the intricacies of this album and layers piled-upon layers, the simplicity of this song makes it like an oasis in a field of oases, the most relaxed and relaxing song in an album full of warm tones.
Now that the Elephant Six collective has simmered down enough that this release doesn't even mention it is part of it, few of those bands seem to be able to put out records now for fear that it will just be seen as the next iteration on the theme. Beulah wins not just for surviving and continuing to make music, but for figuring out exactly what needs to be done in order for the music to still sound new. Despite all the retro references, The Coast is Never Clear is very much of this new millennium, being able to look back at two or three separate styles of music and adapt them to fit together. If this is not the best pop album of the year, then it is definitely in the running.
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