Beulah's "Yoko"

Members of Beulah say that if their new album "Yoko" goes gold, it'll force them to reconsider a potential breakup.

Likely? No, not really. But would that it were so.

In a more just world, Beulah would be Top 40 already. One of the best of the bands that came out of Athens, GA's Elephant 6 collective, Beulah has put out three albums of solid slightly-psychedelic-folk-pop.

"Yoko" is a step in a striking new direction. Recorded with producer Roger Moutenot, "Yoko" is less tambourines-and-trumpets and more fuzz-bass-and-keyboards. It's a thicker, harder rock sound wrapped around their skillful pop songcraft.

In its fuzzy, stuffed-with-sound quality, "Yoko" is reminiscent of Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," another album recorded during a shaky time in a band's career. (In past albums, Beulah has frequently put the listener in mind of Wilco's finely tuned folk-pop melodies.) I'm hoping that "Yoko" will mimic "YHF" as much in cultural buzz as it does in sonic fuzz.

(Maybe it's Beulah's time. I was pleasantly surprised when a recent Nissan commercial featured the opening ba-ba-ba's of Wilco's should-have-been summer-radio hit, "A Good Man Is Easy to Kill." And a quick digression - is Nissan trying to be the new Volkswagen with its attention to hipster music in commercials? A recent minivan commercial was scored by the opening strains of "Gravity Rides Everything" by Modest Mouse.)

If nothing else, the people who do pick up what may be Beulah's last album are getting a treat. The terrific songwriting of Miles Kurosky and Pat Noel is filled out with strings, chord progressions hammered out with the screw-you exuberance of punk, and Moutenot's washes of harmony. It's as challenging as it is charming. The album's most ambitious set piece is "Wipe Those Prints and Run," a closing suite with verses that wouldn't be out of place of Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief" tempered by whimsical horn lines in the pre-choruses. The intros and outros to the songs have the cool-jazz feel of Moutenot's last project, Yo La Tengo's "Summer Sun." Kurosky's gleeful spinning of dark and cutting lyrics is as good as ever, and he cuts loose and lets himself shout here in a way he hasn't in previous efforts.

Released on tiny Georgia label Velocette Records, "Yoko" isn't a prime candidate for chart-topper status. But anyone who picks up a copy will realize that it may not be gold, but it can still glitter.

Article Author: Seth Michaels

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