Electronic Bliss: Beacon brings their A-game to Boot and Saddle

Beacon | Photo by Matthew Shaver | brightloud.com

Relativity is important to keep in mind when discussing music. There is plenty of empirical data to show that somebody did something better than someone else, sold more albums, had a better quality of sound, but at the end of the day, the heart wants what it wants. So, while the Boss came to town and made a lifetime of dreams come true for thousands and thousands of fans, further uptown a few dozen of us huddled in to the warmth of Boot And Saddle. Not as some sort of consolation prize for not being able to hit the refresh button fast enough on the ticketing website, but as the exact place we wanted to be.

Beacon are hot on the heels of their second album for Ghostly International (purveyors of some of the finest electronic and forward thinking indie music around). For a local connection, they will be releasing Philly harpist Mary Lattimore’s next album. Music geeks of the nth degree, they have are equally adept in modern downtempo electro pop as they are the kind of 90s RnB that Bad Boy put out.

While they do dabble in the “verse/chorus/verse” structure of songwriting, Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett specialize in slow building mood pieces that eventually explode in to memorable climaxes of fluttering beats, excited vocals, and catchy hooks. So they brought their A game to B&S, crushing newer numbers like the haunting “IM U” (which perfectly fits in to the previously mentioned mold), the fluttering “L1” and “Escapements”. They touched on a great deal from their masterful debut, The Ways We Separate, putting on a particularly emotional display of “Bring You Back” and the sensual “Drive”

The custom-built light show was icing on the cake, keeping the two mostly drenched in darkness except for bright flashes now and again. The backdrop was coated in 3D geometric pieces that continuously floated and morphed behind them. The designs were all the duos makings, and probably would have benefitted from a more open venue, or higher platform, to truly be appreciated, but what was there was superb.

Along for the ride was Portland’s Natasha Kmeto. With a thundering voice that harkens back to Whitney in the 90s, she could have easily fallen in to cookie cutter pop, but thankfully lends her talents to left-field electronic pop that balances her voice as an instrument among glimmers of analog synths and stuttered drum beats. Taking all the credit for her material from conception to productions, she also adds a nice touch to all of this with hand painted cases for the CDs at her merch table, each one unique. A true artist in every sense of the word.