The multi instrumentalist, prog-experimentalist, glam-theorist and transformational imaginist BEAU BOWEN is about to release his inaugural album: “The Great Anticlimax” on 10th April 2020 with a single release from the recording released this February 14th, titled “A Rock ’n’ Roll Story.”
Supernova super stardom could not arrive fast enough for this guy. So he threw it all away, left London’s stages and hid his luster under the cloud of obscurity until a new identity could be cemented onto his abdomen, much like a hermit-crab. But now he’s completed a fully holometabolic rebirth… though he’s grown greater than the original concept, and boasts crenellated wings and a fully embellished body… in other words BEAU BOWEN has transfigured.
The new single “A Rock ’n’ Roll Story” is a Bowie-esque style lament that attempts to capsulize all the emotional turmoil that might be found inside a romantic mash. The song wobbles from a lonely tremble to an agitated tumult in the space of a few seconds… much like a “real” love story might do. The fact this has the best synthesizer wobble since “Muskrat Love” and careens like a drag-queen in high heels before it forward-rolls into a bed of chunky, candy-rock territory makes this an offering that’s peculiarly kitschy, but heart-warming, nonetheless.
The main song-track “The Great Anticlimax” sounds Spanish/Latino to start with, and has trilling acoustic guitar peaks. The voice is depleted and tensed and is certainly reminiscent of Axl Rose at his most sandpapery. The musicality is multifaceted and diffuse… as if its stuck inside a woozy 1970s headspace.
And when the keys arrive on this one, they are accompanied by Floydish wolf-cry guitars. So, instead of a bittersweet disappointment, this actually brings euphoria in catharsis. This is probably one of the most exultant rock theater pieces since Snowy White couldn’t work with Axl on something that could never have been conceived by Syd Barrett.
Clumpy “Time Is An Illusion Baby” may be one of the shorter tracks on the album but it sure makes a big impact. It has a phenomenal Brian Mayish guitar solo before the much more propulsive resonance of the second part of the arrangement. It reminds us of something you might have found on Tanx (T. Rex) around ’73.
The grand song cycle of “Universe in Reverse” is full of harmonic, melodic hooks … and is performed with a superabundant position and flourishing melifluence.
And “Bisolar Disorder” is supremely eloquent with a fluster of guitars that Prince Rogers Nelson would have been proud of owning up to. It brings an epic drama to the fore with an almost orgiastic sense of psychedelic escapism.
If you can imagine something that sounds like a montage of Gloryhammer, Fragile-era Yes and “Hero and Heroine” Strawbs, maybe with a hint of “Pajamarama” Roxy Music thrown in, maybe you’d come close to understanding the irresistible retroromanticism of this material…
God love him. The guy is a nostalgist’s wet-dream on two legs.
Words: @neilmach 2020 ©
Link: https://www.facebook.com/beaubowenofficial
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