Album Review: Escapements by Beacon

Having garnered plaudits for the spacey electronics and sweet vocal mix of 2013’s The Way We Separate, Brooklyn duo Beacon return with a more complex take on their RnB and Warp obsessions, but one which is no less captivating. The album’s title refers to timekeeping regulators in clocks, and the fascination with inexorable decay is evident in songs like Running Out and Preserve. Musically, Thomas Mullarney III’s sighing vocals float over dense rhythms and deep bass, taking their cue from the icy atmospherics of James Blake as much as the narcotic ennui of The Weeknd.

Full Review >>

After Beacon's year-long run of performances in support of The Ways We Separate, during which the duo's shadowy debut album naturally took on a more intense form, they recorded L1, an EP that gave prominence to increased tempos and relatively fidgety percussion. The contrast between the album and Escapements isn't quite as severe. The average BPM is higher through some rhythms that embrace springy house and flirt discreetly with rattling trap, but Escapements nonetheless plays best for an audience of no more than two -- pensive individuals who, like Beacon lyricist/vocalist Thomas Mullarney III, might refer to celestial mathematics or slowly degrading clock mechanisms when detailing the breakdown of a romance.

Full Review >>

As Beacon, Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett wrap their music in melancholic introspection. That quality made the duo's 2013 debut album, The Ways We Separate, sometimes feel heavy and dismal. Songs dealt as much with the sensual shapes of R&B acts like The Weeknd as trip-hop's sleepy crawl.Escapements, Beacon's second album, continues the move towards the dance floor heard on last year's L1 EP.

Full Review >>