Thursday, July 20
The Beige really makes you pay attention
The Beige is a new musical force in Vancouver, and although the band has five members who each make their imprint on the group sound, the central force is Rick Maddocks. The guitarist wrote all eight tunes on the band’s self-released debut CD, 01, sings lead on the non-instrumental tracks, and creates lyrics that make you really pay attention.
For example, his song Lord I Wish I Was appears at first to be a song about the vulnerability, where Maddocks wishes he could be stronger, more sensitive, a better person. But in the song’s second half, those desires are turned completely around, with Maddocks wanting to be weaker, meaner, less a good person. The countrified Hammer in a Bell is also something of a lament, Maddocks singing about the growing out of things once important in life. Nobody Nowhere reflects on a world changing, not always for the better.
The band (Maddocks on guitar and vocals, Andrew Arida on keyboards and accordion, Jon Wood on guitar and lap steel, Mark Haney on bass, Geoff Gilliard on drums) mixes an organic sound with electronics, using loops effectively. 01 also enjoys several guest players, the most prominent being Christy Staudhammer, whose cello underscores the lyricism of certain songs.
- Marke Andrews
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