Beak> – “Brean Down”

Beak> – “Brean Down”

Though Portishead have remained dormant for along time — their last album, Third, arrived over 10 years ago — Geoff Barrow is always pretty busy. He worked on the stunning score for this year’s Annihilation, and Beak>, his krautrock-infused trio with Billy Fuller and Will Young, have released a trickle of new songs over the last year. Most recently, that was “Allé Sauvage,” which came with hints of a new album but no concrete info. Today, Beak> have announced their third official full-length, >>>.

The new collection was primarily written and recorded live in the Invada studios. Here’s how Redg Weeks, the group’s label manager at Invada, described >>> relative to Beak>’s past work:

>>> definitely sounds like a step forward. The production and feel of the first two albums was like listening through frosted glass; a band playing behind a curtain. Now we are hearing Beak> in sharp focus, but without forfeiting what the band see as its “wrongness.” This could be the result of having played bigger stages and festivals — something that was never part of the plan — or perhaps it is just a reaction to the infinite cut & paste fuzz pedal kraut bands on the planet.

Along with the announcement, Beak> have shared another new song called “Brean Down.” (The name is presumably a reference to a promontory in southwest England, on which sit the ruins of a fort.) “Brean Down” has Beak>’s trademark mix of queasy flickers of sound and kraut rhythms, with lyrics talking about how “The future’s kinda sketchy.” Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:

01 “The Brazilian”
02 “Brean Down”
03 “Birthday Suit”
04 “Harvester”
05 “Allé Sauvage”
06 “Tesco”
07 “King Of The Castle”
08 “RSI”
09 “Abbots Leigh”
10 “When We Fall”

TOUR DATES:

08/16-08/19 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival
08/31 – Blackpool, UK @ Margate Winter Gardens*
09/03 – London, UK @ The Forum*
10/04 – Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry
10/07 – Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
10/08 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater
10/10 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
10/11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
10/12-10/14 – Lake Perris, CA @ Desert Daze
10/15 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/17 – Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
10/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
11/30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Sugarfactory
12/01 – Bruges, Belgium @ Cactus Club
12/02 – Paris, France @ Café De La Danse
12/04 – Cologne, Germany @ Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld
12/05 – Hamburg, Germany @ Nochtspeicher
12/07 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido

* – w/ Oh Sees

Beak02-1531317243
CREDIT: John Minton

>>> is out 9/21 via Invada Records/Temporary Residence.

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