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[Online] Review: Beulah

Published: Monday, August 25, 2003

Beulah “Yoko” Velocette Records

Somehow, some way, “Yoko” works. Beulah’s fourth record is neither a collection of catchy singles nor a case of the sum being greater than its parts. In “Yoko,” the San Francisco sextet has crafted a straightforward indie pop album with can’t-quite-put-a-finger-on-it appeal. The ambiguity makes the band’s latest offering a sure thing.

Each song in the album has a mind of its own. The 10 tracks are all discernably different from one another – not different in a stylistic sense but in a structural sense. Frontman Miles Kurosky doesn’t make “Yoko” an exercise in eclectic experimentation, throwing random country tunes next to pop ballads and jazz-infused jam sessions. Instead, Kurosky subtly adjusts the emphasis from song to song. Listeners may find themselves drawn to the repetitive “Baby says …” opening phrase throughout “Landslide Baby,” almost wanting to ask out loud what Baby really does say. Swampy, snarling guitars accentuate “Your Mother Loves You Son,” the only pure rocker of the bunch. In “Don’t Forget to Breathe,” listeners are induced into swaying side to side during the floating, weightless chorus.

However, the songs on “Yoko” do have a connection. The overall mood of the album is consistently dark and melancholy. The sweetness of 2001’s “The Coast is Never Clear” is replaced with minor chords that are bittersweet yet hopeful. “You’re Only King Once” and “Hovering” are a cloudy afternoon with sunlight barely piercing through the gloom. Even the jaunty frolic of “My Side of the City” features vocals that are delivered in a detached manner.

The absolute highlight of “Yoko” is the seemingly never-ending closer “Wipe Those Prints and Run,” a pop staple if there ever was one. The track not only serves as a fitting bookend with the sexy opener “A Man Like Me” but also makes this a classic pop album.

-By David Chang