The Beta Band
Heroes to Zeros
On Sale Now
For $13.88

The Beta Band has a tendency to go in one ear and out the other. However, when the music does fasten itself to your ear tubes, at least it’s engaging and jovial at times. On their remarkable debut, The Three Eps, the Scottish foursome twisted the fringe of song deconstruction to make it a wildly eccentric part of their appeal. It was also given a big push in the film High Fidelity. The Beta Band clearly gets off on smearing multifaceted concerto assemblies in conjunction with roundabout chord structuring that hovers and glides, sometimes on autopilot. It’s unusual to say the least, but they never dismissed the importance of big pop melodies which only got better and better as it went along. However their strengths diminished as they become lost within themselves for their second and third records.

They come across as carefree and well-ventilated, with a dreamlike ambiance that suits them well. They complement a nighttime drive quite nicely, making them one of the better examples of background music to date. You don’t need to really pay attention to their mediocre lyrics or sit up in front of the speakers to really grasp their appeal. They manage to infect you without trying too hard even if their whimsical nature and scatterbrained weirdness tends to be off-putting at times. On their latest release, Heroes To Zeros, the record seems to float by too fast, and very few moments stay with you long after you put the headphones down.

“Assessment” could be one of their most straight-ahead rock tracks to date with an assault of fractured bass and trembling single-string guitar, sounding like an outtake from a NY indie rock band like Longwave. It’s the strongest song on the album that could lead to some radio play, but they eventually leave the guitars aside and lean towards complementing the bong advocates. “Space” reconnects their fans with a quirky sonic swirl accompanied by sprinkles of Moog and their trademark Pink Floyd vocal styling. Their out-of-nowhere breaks and bridges are what make the best moments shine, which are few and far between. By the fourth track, they start to meander a bit in ways they have on their last two endeavors. “Easy” plagiarizes the exact sound of Stevie Wonder’s old-school electronic keys to the point of eye rolling. Producer Nigel Godrich who has worked with Beck and Radiohead, should know better. The Beta Band simply come across as Gomez far too many times on this record, mixing programmed looped drum machines with authentic xylophones not once at all engaging the listener on an emotional level. Sometimes they have a tendency to sound out of tune, mixing minor notes in a major key.

The Beta Band doesn’t always come across as disconnected art rockers who are too eclectic for their own good. “Troubles” and “Simple” quietly blackout, meshing quixotic string arrangements as lead singer Steve Mason intriguingly bemoans something indefinite, declaring the strength of love with a measure of honesty and uncertainty that charms and defused the listener. Too often the lyrics are reduced to repetitive declarations of “Can you hear me?” without ever seeming as if the lyrics play a central role in the overall product. It’s as if, sadly, the words are placed too far in the background leaving the arrangements to stand out above all. However, they save the best for last, as the gently electronic album closer “Pure For” is one of the prettiest songs you’ll hear this year.

Overall, the band has still yet to live up to the hype and promise once bestowed upon them. Heroes to Zeros is at least a step from their past two flops, opting for a more concise and cohesive recording instead of shooting for fifteen minute arrangements that randomly belt out a Bonnie Tyler cover (!). This mellow endeavor is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just not as strong and rewarding as you’d hope for, coming from a band that once seemed capable of so much more.

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