Folkadelphia Session: Long Beard

Courtesy of Team Love Records
Since Sleepwalker, the debut album from Long Beard, New Jersey musician Leslie Bear’s musical outfit was released in autumn 2015, I have found myself occasionally laying on my bedroom floor, with door closed, lights off, ceiling staring, putting the needle down over and over on this record. I have discovered that the semidarkness of twilight is the perfect time to listen to Long Beard, when the day and everything that it brought is being slowly snuffed out by the impending night. These soft boundaries between light and dark, awake and asleep, noisy and hushed release a magical power already latent in the aptly-titled Sleepwalker. Leslie and her band are also operating in the between. They are transitioning from a former state to a new one, where music plays the role of catalyst and catharsis and internal dialogues loop, build, and collide often in a restless release of energy. I find myself remaining on the floor staring up into darkness even after the needle pulls away from Sleepwalker, captivated by its spell.

Long Beard recorded a solo in-studio session at the WXPN Performance Studio for Folkadelphia Radio. They frequently tour in the area, so keep up to date on their page.