Expanded lineup provides a deeply satisfying work of art rock.
It is always a treat being sent quality music to listen to and write a few words about, and it was a pleasure to be contacted by Amy Birks, co-founder of Beatrix Players who won Prog magazine’s 2017 Best Newcomer award, regarding Living & Alive, their sophomore album.
The album is a concept one exploring how life isn’t just about living, but owning that life and being yourself, as opposed to trying to be someone else, and I believe that within this is the story of a woman who no longer wishes to pretend that she must comply with feelings and expectations of someone who no longer makes her happy. Among many impressive features of this wonderful album is the (not easy) way genuine anger in parts is put across with the power of words and melody as opposed to merely screaming at a microphone and the subject of the anger with, by extension, the audience.
The revamped band is an octet, with some seriously good musicians joining the seriously talented writer/vocalist Birks and her co-writers from the original lineup, Helena Dove, and guitarist Tom Manning. The incredible flautist John Hackett, guitarist Oliver Day (That Joe Payne & Yes Please), drummer Andrew Booker (Tim Bowness), storied cellist Jane Fenton (LSO, LCO, RPO, Britten Ensemble), pianist Matthew Lumb and bassist Kyle Welch. There is a mighty range of music in the ten tracks on offer here, with predominant melody, classical, rock, pastoral all embedded within an album which delivered joy to these ears right from the first listen. It is simply captivating and you can preorder the album via the band’s website at http://www.beatrixplayers.co.uk/ or on Bandcamp at https://beatrixplayers.bandcamp.com/album/living-alive
So, to the music, and we open with Snowflakes, which is the release given to us by the band ahead of the album itself, and I have embedded it below. The gorgeous flute hits you immediately with then the violin, piano, guitars bringing us a chamber rock delight. When Birks enters vocally with the inspirational words that there is no such thing as an ordinary moment (and there shouldn’t be, whether happy or sad) we are in the company of something rather special. Her voice is deep and expressive, and the accompanying musicianship builds in intensity alongside some well mixed vocal harmonies. This is an uplifting piece of music which is quite easy to lose oneself in, and the closing passage is a playfully pastoral delight.
Somebody Else’s Eyes follows. The cello is deeply expressive accompanied by an acoustic guitar and then piano. There are some very clever percussive moments in this song, the flute is mournful before we get a very catchy section when you are living through those other eyes. Welch shows some very nice melodic basslines in what is a very thoughtful song but containing some more very playful and deeply catchy melodies worth paying the entrance fee for the genius of Hackett alone.
This Is Your Life is a rollercoaster of a track which should certainly appeal to fans of Kate Bush and similar such artists in a track which exemplifies the concept of living one’s life in one’s own way better than any other here. In addition to some vital and meaningful lyrics stunningly sung, I found great delight at the entire collective’s music, veering between a cello played almost as a bass before we get some urgent guitars leading a deceptively understated rhythm section, the flute soaring, and vocal harmonies rising above it all. Three minutes in, there is a fine guitar riff and the band demonstrate their rock chops with aplomb. Hugely enjoyable progressive/classic art rock.
Start Again follows, the first example of the anger I mentioned at the start of this review, with Birks relaying how she spent “many a year holding on to you” and “many a tear holding back the truth” to some incessantly catchy urgent grooves. When the main dream about you passage arrives, it is brilliant, with some thrilling vocals. There is an energy to this song which I think cannot be anything other than personal and cathartic in nature, but it is important to stress that this band have a whole lot of fun playing it, with some extremely bright passages in a track which really should attract a lot of airplays when it is released.
A Beautiful Lie is sad, talking about not being able to live in a world where nothing is wrong and fate pulling the rug from underneath the protagonists in a relationship which strikes me as having been extremely intense but the time for it has passed. Again, the vocals hit one with their feeling and intensity, there are some more very nice harmonies, and a deliciously mournful cello solo. I think there has been a certain element of pouring out a heart here, and it is quite stunning.
Overflow is something I can only really describe as an intellectual piece set to music. There is a slide guitar which intersperses between the notes and words taking me back quite a few years to the halcyon days of a certain Mr Neil Young. Yes, it is that good. There is a nice, understated percussion riff on this, an essentially folk song at its core but with definite commercial sensibilities. When the track expands just a minute from the close, the band provide a wonderful wall of sound with voices and instruments combining as a chorus I would love to hear in an acoustically charged church.
Purgatory. The place where those of us who are neither sinner nor saint supposedly end up for a type of probation period when we pass this mortal coil (it didn’t have a great deal of justification in Scripture, but why let the facts get in the way of a good story?). This wonderful piece of music deals not with the purgatory of the afterlife but wrought large in this one (and we know that there can be both heaven and hell on this earth, so why not the in between?). A little girl whose world is ripped apart by the hurt perpetrated by those who should love her, but instead force damaging lives and values on one they should protect and cherish, leaving her with no hope at all. The vocals on this are amongst the most expressive I have had the pleasure of hearing, there is a fantastic guitar solo, and beneath all of this, a band pushing the music at a fair old pace, daring us to be pulled in and experience the story alongside the girl. A classic to these ears.
This is followed by You Can’t Hit a Nail which starts with some intricate guitar work. Birks paints another picture of letting go and regret wanting to move on, with the cello, drums & percussion, thumping bass, and single piano notes providing the dramatic backdrop. About halfway in, the flute enters the fray in a gorgeously sad duet with the cello. The musicianship here between Fenton & Hackett is of the highest order and as the song builds to a climax, I am reminded of the soaring vocals Judie Tzuke used to such good effect on tracks from Secret Agent in their creeping intensity and raw emotion.
The penultimate track is Free. Birks here is so clever using her voice as a lead instrument, with the notes dripping with feeling up and down in scale. Underneath the cello and guitars, there is a fantastic complex drum pattern. At this stage of the story, Birks is free, with the subject of her catharsis no longer exercising any control over her whatsoever and the jazzy interplay of all players as the song develops brings this to life.
The album closes with what can only be described as a statement of intent – Me I Am Me. Too right, and that me is somebody the listener really empathises with and, indeed, bloody well likes a great deal. She is accused of doing too much, too soon, but she is determined, and the voice, sometimes playfully angry, and urgent notes push the song along with a velocity that runs parallel to the freedom the subject has, and there is a wonderfully operatic passage half way through pouring out the heart, though the quiet vocal passage alongside the guitar and cello does this just as effectively in a very good change of tempo before the collective return and take us to a joyful denouement.
Beatrix Players are no longer “best newcomer” material. On this showing, they are serious contenders for “best band”. Living & Alive is a very good album, in which a very good collective of musicians and songwriters provide for a rich, deeply satisfying work of art which will be enjoyed in my household for many years to come. You will see some reviews stating “featuring”, or “starring” John Hackett. The man is a genius and provides so many great moments on this album, but please don’t let that distract you from the fact that this is a true band effort and a collaboration of some very talented people.
Very highly recommended to you all.