"it's about time that i said hello to all the lonely people"
The brand new effort from the Beta Band, Heroes to Zeros, is full of layered vocals, sound effects, indie overtones, and no hesitation about where they wanted to go with it. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when they got the idea for this one. "Heroes" is at once ethereal and mighty.
It begins with "Assessment," sounding like early U2, full of bass and guitar and strength; it feels epic. "Space" follows with a jerky bass line, heavy drums, and the Flaming Lips and the Who stretching their arms out as far as they can and grazing fingertips. It’s like shoegazing—up at the stars. "Easy" brings the funk, "Wonderful" starts with a Coldplay–orchestra expansiveness that de-evolves to a sweet, lowdown cosmic melody. "Troubles" is psychedelic Beatles, and "Out-Side" is a galloping tune that would have fit Trainspotting to a T.
Heroes is a complete, comprehensive, consistent album. The energy sways and dips and soars, but the lyrical repetition, tonal sounds, and back-and-forth of loud and quiet captivate you. The album is subtle, but it reaches you quietly in places you had heard rumors about but never established as fact.
This feels to me like an odd child of Tommy and Dark Side of the Moon: challenging, different, and beyond expectations. It’s a not-so-soft lullaby to the twenty-first century and all us lonely mortals inhabiting it. You feel something wonderful is happening here, and while you can’t quite pin it down, you listen again and again. I like to think this is what Wilco might have sounded like if they’d grown up in Scotland, never wrote Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and played with some funky grooves.
I told you, subtle.