Over the course of their 1997-2004 run, The Beta Band were a model of aggressive, unabashed peculiarity: from their psych-folk/hip-hop hybrids and sound-collage pranksterim to video shoots in inhospitable climes and bizarro stage outfits involving electric-lit space suits and/or sombreros. Melodic linearity and lyrical candour were never at the top of their to-do list, so it was a pleasant surprise that former frontman Steve Mason’s 2010 solo debut, Boys Outside, evinced such a warm, welcoming folk-rock accessibility and emotional directness. After struggling through the Beta Bands’ flagging commercial fortunes and his own public battles with depression, the album essentially functioned as a form of therapy: You got the sense that Mason was not only picking up the pieces of his once-ascendant career, but of his life.
A sprawling, beautiful, brain-belch of an album from a never-dull artist.
by via Latest Reviews
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