On Tuesday Sept. 11, the Elephant 6 band Beulah put out a new album entitled The Coast is Never Clear. Granted, the beauty of the album pales in comparison to the horror of the day, but listening to it that day and throughout the week certainly helped alleviate some of the depressing thoughts I was feeling along with the rest of the United States. But before we go on, some background is needed, as most people have probably never heard of this amazing San Francisco band.
After every era of music, there always seems to be a desire to regress back the simple pop rock of the ‘60s. It’s not an official music doctrine or anything, but there’s some basis to believe it. From the Bee Gees’ remake of Sgt. Pepper’s to the Lennon- and McCartney-esque chord progressions of Nirvana, the ‘60s have always managed to resurface in different types of music. Every “British Invasion” since the ‘60s has usually involved some sort of Beatles imitation. This has become especially apparent in the ‘90s with bands such as Oasis and the newest crop of British imports such as Coldplay and Travis.
While some bands try to play down their Beatle influence (or blatant Beatles rip-offs as the case may be), a group of musicians from around the United States has decided to own up to it. The Elephant 6 Recording Company is an elusive bunch of musicians that love to make music that sounds almost identical to ‘60s-era pop. Formed by a group of childhood friends from Ruston, La., the group has morphed from a small collective to a record company, to a vast umbrella that encompasses bands from New York to San Francisco. The premier players of this group are its founders, the Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control (Neutral Milk Hotel should figure in here, too, but their music is another story entirely). Most of these bands are pretty solid, having managed to recreate the Sixties sound almost perfectly on most of their records. It’s refreshing to hear amazing harmonies at a time when band music is dominated by a bunch of pretty-boy lead singers and fake boy bands. The production values of Elephant 6 recordings are also pretty cool. Most Olivia Tremor Control songs sound as though they’ve been recorded on an old four track without being re-mastered in stereo sound. But the different Elephant 6 groups all seem too content to regress into their musical hole and pretend that nothing musically has happened since the ‘60s, with the end result being decent music that doesn’t stack up to its predecessors. Of course, when the predecessors they’re trying to stack up to have names such as the Beach Boys, the Beatles and the Kinks, matching them is no easy task.
Now we come back to Beulah. The band’s first album was released in 1997 on Elephant 6. Handsome Western States was good, but not great. Like so many other Elephant 6 albums, it consisted of very good lo-fi ‘60s-sounding pop tunes, but nothing that you haven’t heard before. They switched to another label but kept their Elephant 6 ties and had Rob Schneider (the lead singer and songwriter for the Apples in Stereo) produce their sophomore effort When Your Heartstrings Break. The result was one of the best and most underrated albums of 1999. The music sounds like a blend of Revolver-era Beatles guitar riffs mixed with the vocal harmonies and orchestral arrangements of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. But rather than simply rehashing these previous works, the result was something fresh and new. Beulah got the help of 18 different musicians who played everything from violins to trumpets to harpsichords. Together they created an extremely lush-sounding opus in which almost every song seems like a simple pop song, but repeat listenings reveal layers and layers of subtle orchestration and vocal work. And while other Elephant 6 lyrics seem as though they could be from 40 years ago, Beulah have brought that aspect of the music up to the ‘90s. There are still songs about wanting to be rock stars, cheesy love songs and a reverence for California beaches. But Beulah sings about them in a plaintive way that longs for the olden days while still acknowledging the silliness of singing these songs in an age when California is much more a symbol of Hollywood and western excess than freedom and beauty.
The new album, The Coast is Never Clear, doesn’t tamper with this formula at all. Songs like “A Good Man is Easy to Kill,” “Gene Autry,” “Gravity is Bringing Us Down” and “Night is Day Turned Inside Out” pick up right where the last album left off. They’re all deceivingly simple pop songs with subtle orchestral flourishes throughout. The great lyrics have also continued along the same path, including the faux reverence for California. In “Gene Autry,” lead singer songwriter Miles Kurovsky sings about wanting to reach California just write his name in the sand, but continues with: “And watch city spread out, just like a cut vein, where everybody drowns, sad and lonely.” The music of the song is so buoyant and happy, it’s easy to miss this subtle critique of Beulah’s home state.
It’s slightly disappointing that with its newest album, Beulah hasn’t tried to take its music in a new direction, and has instead decided to stick with what works. But who can complain when it works so darn well? If you’re feeling down, pick up either one of the last two Beulah albums, and you won’t be disappointed.
