Unfurling
Beck Siàn
© Copyright-Beck Siàn
(634479893803)
Record Label: Haunted Forest Productions
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\"Some singers have only to utter a note and instantly, you\'re transfixed. They\'ve reached out, touched your soul. Beck Siàn has that rare quality. In Beck, you sense she\'s on a journey and, for a short while at least, you\'re a traveling companion. She draws inspiration from the subtropical rainforests of her native Australia, creating what she fittingly calls \'Haunted Forest Music\', through voice, guitar, whistle and didgeridoo. It is mystical, magical music, spiritual and enchanting. There are touches redolent of Kate Bush, to whom Beck is related, but these are mere brush-strokes of influence. Overall, it\'s as distinctive as it is original. With a soprano voice to die for, her approach is highly individual, the ambiance emotional and utterly entrancing. She\'s charismatic, convivial and funny on stage - in short, a real show-stopper! Her outstanding debut album is called \'Unfurling\'. And artistically, that is precisely what Beck is doing. Unmissable.\"
\'Unfurling\' was written by Beck Siàn while she was living in a cottage at the edge of a forest, on a mountain range in Australia. She decided to create a concept album, where all the songs were set within the landscape of the forest.
Beck says, \"Imagine that you are walking through a rainforest on a sunny day. Shafts of light pierce the foliage of the Mountain Ash trees that tower overhead. There\'s an under-canopy of ancient tree-ferns. Rainbow-coloured Rosellas screech in the sky above, and Kookaburras laugh up high in the Gum Trees. You feel happy and at peace, and in awe of the natural beauty surrounding you, but then suddenly you notice that the birds are silent. The wind has died down and the leaves have stilled. The light no longer filters through from above, and you find yourself in a dark, cold patch of the forest. Well... I wanted to set 16 songs within that environment, in the light and shade of the forest. I used recordings of the birdsong of the forest where I lived, and placed a mixture of original and traditional Celtic songs that I\'d arranged within this landscape. It was a really exciting project, and I think that the album has a really green, damp, foresty and otherworldly quality. I think it\'s quite unique.\"
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Lose yourself in Beck's haunted forest!!
author: Andrew
Unfurling may be Beck's full length debut album, but if you are expecting a hit and miss demo style musical experience, you'd be very much mistaken. In some ways a more challenging listen than her second album (Luminous Wings And Unseen Things), it is none the worse for that.
Unfurling is largely themed on the environment of an Australian rainforest (Beck was born in Australia of English/Welsh parents, her father David Robson is a cousin of Kate Bush on her maternal Irish family line) but is astonishingly diverse in its influences. She is equally at home adspting traditional music and literature, for example Greensleeves or presenting her breathtakingly original poems and songs.
I am not at all familiar with the world of folk or world music but with this album there is a sense that with Beck you are listening to an artist on a musical journey who is in a constant state of evolution.
In this age of the commercial, disposable musical culture it ia heart warming to know that there are still independent artists like Beck who make their own path in the world on their own terms.
Given the large range of influences from the Irish of Beck's grandmother to her friend Stax's didgeridoo playing, the album never sounds disjointed. Her voice has an astonishing range and power (most apparent on The Foggy Dew, make sure your glassware is put away before you play this one!!) but she uses it as an instrument in itself.
Particular favourite tracks are a delightfully mellow version of her classic Moss, and the songs where Beck's voice is largely unaccompanied such as The Night Will Never Stay and Messages In Dreams can melt all but the hardest hearts and work their way into your soul. On Sherbrooke Forest, she quite literally drives a steam train through your head!! Pride of place goes to the evocative, dark and ominous sounding Under Thunderous Skies, which ends on an unexpectedly postive note representing the sense of positivity after overcoming the fallout from a failed relationship, an experience common to all.
This album is truly timeless and will never sound dated. I hope Beck will continue with making new music for a long time. Her third album Ye Olde Silent Inn will be released late 2012.
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Unfurling is well worth it..
author: Adrian
Lovely first album from a beautiful lady with a wonderful voice. Beck certainly has her own style and the songs sound even better live.
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