Beulah Offers Thoughtful Instrumental Pop Not To Be Mistaken For Twee
originally published September 26, 2001
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Much to the detriment of Kurosky's hopes, word is out on Beulah and the band's engaging brand of smart lyric-laden instrumental pop.
On Beulah's most recent release, The Coast Is Never Clear (Velocette), the San Francisco sextet offers up its most well produced and lyrically mature effort to date. The lineup consists of Miles Kurosky on guitar and vocals, Bill Swan on guitar and trumpet, Patrick Noel and Bill Evans on keys, Steve La Follette on bass and Danny Sullivan on drums. The music was assembled in a patchwork quilt-style with Kuroksy sending out tapes of the songs to his fellow bandmates during his extended visit to Japan. Cautioned not to discuss their impressions with the other members of Beulah, they made tapes of what they envisioned as their parts and sent them back to the songwriter. After collecting them, Kurosky arranged and tweaked the songs before heading into the studio with the band. According to the frontman, this process made The Coast Is Never Clear, "a far more collective record," than the band's earlier efforts. And while the record builds off of the lush arrangements of 1999's When Your Heartstrings Break (Sugarfree), the band has streamlined its lineup (which included 18 guest artists on its last record) and opted to utilize pre-synthesizer keyboards and learn any instruments the members felt were needed for recording. As a result, The Coast Is Never Clear's content is much more even than the band's earlier efforts.
When asked, Kurosky couldn't pick out a favorite track on the latest. "I like the ones that are least like the ones that sound like the way people assume Beulah to be... I like the whole thing because it is a personal record and it's emotionally provocative."
The thoughtful nature of the lyrical content of Beulah's work has long been overlooked. The lighthearted, up-tempo instrumental pop speaks a bit to the twee movement, but the lyrics hardly sound like the anti-sex, drugs and rock and roll, pro-puppy love content associated with the likes of the early Kindercore Records catalogue.
Kurosky reflects, "Lyrically Beulah is an anything but twee. When I sing, 'When you flew through that windshield and your life passed reel-to-reel,' it's not very twee. I steer very clear of lunch pails and horn-rimmed glasses on lyrics. Instead, the lyrics on The Coast Is Never Clear all emerged from the same place... a two week period where I investigated my relationship with all these things [around me.]"
All these things included Kurosky's relationship with his family, his girlfriends, his environment and himself. On the tinkling, piano-inflected, bossa nova jaunt "What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades?", Kurosky vocally reaches as he reflects, autobiographically, "All those drugs you take/ can not help you save your soul." While on "Hey Brother" atop a moderato pop tempo and Bill Swan's catchy trumpet hooks, he tells the story of a guy who gets his girlfriend pregnant. In the chorus, the protagonist recollects matter-of-factly, "You said you were late/ and I planned my escape."
Hardly dealing with light-hearted matters, it seems that The Coast Is Never Clear may free Beulah from the "twee" pigeon-hole. However, Kurosky might remain disappointed that the band's reputation as live performers will continue to garner crowds of folks demanding to be blown away. That reputation may prove much harder to escape.
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