“Beams Are Bright and Menacing on 'The Spark in Your Eye'”
Exclaim!
“melodies blossom around the band’s psychedelic textures”
Under the Radar
“Darkly spellbinding”
American Songwriter
“Often as ‘prog’ as they are folk”
Toronto Star
Beams are a band out of Toronto comprised of 6 members who have been making and touring music together for over a decade. They take their name from the architectural term: the beams that support a building. Each member — Martin Crawford (electric guitars, lap steel), Mike Duffield (drums), Keith Hamilton (vibraphone, singing saw, vocals), Heather Mazhar (vocals), and Craig Moffat (bass) — had been leading and playing in various bands in the scene when in walked Anna Mernieks and ignited a catalysing spark: Beams was born, formed now around her songwriting and lead vocals. In time, Mike and Anna became the Mernieks-Duffields; the rest of the band's bonds to each other are so strong, they might as well have put on rings at the same time as this marriage. In the 10+ years of their existence, they have recorded 3 released albums and a 4th ready to go, played countless shows north and south of the Canadian border, made 8 music videos, won several grants, and even created a feature-length documentary about their last album, Ego Death, when Covid-19 shut down their plans for touring and an album release show. Of course, they did all this and continue to do it while holding day jobs. They're in it for the long haul.
The band's modus operandi goes like this: feel the love, plan the work, work the plan. The film for Ego Death showed that even at a moment when the world was completely uncertain—the venues where they cut their teeth and grew their community closing, the band members losing jobs and moving out to disparate locales to shelter-in-place—they were committed to going ahead with the music they make, which is more than the sum of their parts. They're an indie band with legs and heart, but they have long-term goals, which include building a world which will stand the test of time.
These large-scale ambitions are belied by each successive step forward. While debut Just Rivers prominently featured charming rusticana such as singing saw, lap steel, mandolin (from departed member David Hamilton), and front-and-forward banjo, their sophomore album Teach Me to Love moved them closer to the mainstream. Ego Death energetically encapsulated a variety of styles with 10 taut tracks that all had something to say, moving beyond the overworked field of romantic relationship songs. Beams have evolved through a stylistic progression encompassing aspects of several genres, retaining a strong identity and never chasing trends.
Anna Mernieks-Duffield (electric and acoustic guitars, lead vocals, banjo, alto sax) is the principal songwriter; she and drummer/husband Mike do a lot of the behind-the-scenes visualizing, networking, and hustling. All members are invested and involved, contributing creatively and financially, taking on responsibilities and voicing ideas. With experience, they've learned that up-front communication is best, even when it is difficult.
Like any long-term indie band, they know new fans are made one show at a time, expanding the map and forging new relationships strategically throughout a widening circuit of live music venues. They don't phone in any performances, and they get on the road as much as possible given their various lives and commitments. They often try new things to let the audience experience their crackling chemistry. Spontaneous banter and the members' unique sense of humor erupt between songs, leavening tension from songs steeped in heavy subject material, such as childhood trauma and a sense of grief for a disappearing world.
On their own, the band are proud to have been featured on 5 Spotify editorial playlists, numerous user-generated playlists, sold through half of their self-financed vinyl pressings, amassed over 100,000 streams and 5,000 social followers, carried out a supporter series of covers and snail mail on bandcamp, and worked with an impressive slew of collaborators (they enlisted Grammy Award-winning producer Peter J. Moore for their first album, right out the gate) on both the sonic and visual representation of their band. They've been running up that hill for a long time (recording a cover of that Kate Bush song long before its Stranger Things-sparked renaissance) and are ready to make a deal with, if not God, at least someone with a little more power and reach than they have on their own.
While the question of genre can be a little vexing to them, Beams sees themselves as participating in the “New Weird America” movement, as coined in 2003 by David Keenan in response to Greil Marcus. Where the latter critic invoked an idea of an “Old Weird America'' to describe the world conjured by Canadians The Band with American Bob Dylan in Ulster County, NY (Big Pink, Saugerties), Canadians Beams here partnered up with American Kevin McMahon in the same Ulster County (Marcata, New Paltz). In the process, they created something authentic to their muse that, at the same time, steps into a tradition flowing from John Fahey and epitomized in the 21st century by Mt. Eerie/The Microphones, Akron/Family, and Grizzly Bear. Atmospherics, a sense of place, and the abiding natural world create a space in which folk-like fingerpicking, clear voices and carefully considered lyrics, and improvisational blazes build to emotional catharsis. Psych-folk and post-rock sensibilities are also evidenced in their new album, with a lot of attention given to creating a captivating mood, capturing interesting tones, and sustaining a pervasive atmosphere in the recording process.
Let's face it: it's been a long few years. Beams' last album came out toward the beginning of the pandemic, which feels forever ago right now. To whet appetites for what's waiting in the wings, appease long-time and patient fans, and reintroduce the band to a public perpetually skipping along the surface of the internet, they are releasing The Spark in Your Eye an EP of songs culled from the same sessions as their upcoming LP These 3 new songs give an appealing taste of their new sound-world; they're strong enough to stand on their own, but they don't steal any thunder from what's in the can for the carefully sequenced next full-length.
Press
American Songwriter Debut of “Born To Win”
Under The Radar Debut of “A Flower Blossomed”
Videos
