Beacon - Gravity Pairs

Beacon
Gravity Pairs
2018
Spotify

The hype around Beacon has been buzzing about for some time now. The New York based Synth duo have made appearances with the likes of Tycho and other label mates from Ghostly, but to date their releases have felt like a lot of sizzle and not very much steak. The same can be said for their collaboration with Tycho on a remix of his song "See". It featured the first vocals Tycho has ever used and it was...ok. The thing about Beacon is they exist in this middle ground between a singer songwriter, almost like Snow Patrol, and a spartan electronic duo. On the first few tracks the breathy vocals dance over gentle synths and find some wonderful notes. However songs like "Losing My Mind" which features just a piano and vocals are so boring and dry that it's hard to even pay attention. The idea of a real singer songwriter using these beats as a base is at it's core interesting but with Beacon they don't give their songs enough drama to really connect. "Fields" is a great example of this. The almost five and a half minute song drones for a bit then shifts into a higher BPM, but only slightly, then it just gently slides into an acoustic guitar line. The vocals also never change, on almost the entire album we get the same delivery. This album almost feels like an evolution of trip hop, another genre that has waned in popularity in the past couple of years. The ambient nature of a lot of these tunes helps a bit, but it makes you almost wish the vocals were never there.

On "Marion" they find a wonderful beat and then suck the air out of the room on the bridge totally blowing out any of the good will they had garnered thus far. It takes until the seventh track, "The Road", until we get a beat with some pace. Guess what? When they pair the quicker beats with the somewhat deadpan delivery, it actually kind of works. It's when they decide to break it down, stop the beat and allow the vocals to be front and center that the album dips hard. There is just this sense on this album that Beacon thinks this music is REALLY important. Nothing is taken lightly, there are no subtle winks anywhere which just gives the record this heavy feeling like a weight is being slowly dragged behind it. The album just never clicks in, never engages in something bold or daring. For a band making this kind of music that is what they need to do, take some kind of risk or at least make the music feel like it has some kind of edge. Gravity Pairs has none of that and ends up not being bad, just being kinda boring. I'm not sure which is worse.

6.0 out of 10