Quite simply, The Beths are a terrific band. They are terrific now, and they would have been terrific if they were doing the same thing in the '80, '90s, or '00s. But happily for us, they are doing it now, and have done it in style on their new album Expert In A Dying Field.
On the all important yardstick of songcraft, they ace the test: Elizabeth Stoke's lean but meaningful lyrics that make the right impact, wrapped in the band's tidy and varied arrangements and buoyed by expert musicianship and a palpable love of their craft. So that makes them a very good band. What makes them terrific is that they adorn their creations with riffs, runs, pauses and various other nuances that take a song that could be compared to a delicious cookie and make it into a song that could be compared to a wedding cake. Not overdone, mind you, just done right. We could write a number of sentences about the lyrical content, but it isn't our style to emphasize reading our words over your need to listen to the music. However, we think the title track is an excellent example of the band's intelligent an wry approach to a theme. One could assume that "Expert In A Dying Field" focused on some poor soul that finds his or her skills no longer in demand. And in a way, such is the case. But the specific subject is a protagonist whose relationship is ending, and all of the memories of and details about the departing partner -- a subject in which the protagonist has become an expert -- are now knowledge in the dying field of that relationship. And to be perfectly honest, reading our sentence describing the song points out to us how much better the band has expressed the same thing. So stop reading and start listening.
The Beths are Elizabeth Stokes, Jonathan Pearce, Benjamin Sinclair, and Tristan Deck. Expert In A Dying Field will be out September 16 via Carpark Records (US) and Ivy League Records (Australia).
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