Life Goes On

Beak> have always relished exploring the different sides of their music on short-form releases like Sex Music and BEAK>>>, with the new directions they introduced taken to extremes. As Beak> adds more recognizable hooks and choruses, it just makes their songs stranger: The EP's title track begins with a young girl's distorted voice beckoning in Spanish (a recording used by junk collectors in Mexico City to let people know to bring out their scrap metal) before launching into a stair-stepping riff and a murky groove that mix prog and boogie rock into an unlikely but potent blend. Like >>>'s excellent "Brean Down," it's catchy and unsettling in equal measure, especially when Geoff Barrow intones "Say what you want/Life still goes on" over a guiro that sounds like a knife being sharpened. The band follows it with "We Can Go," which expands on the haunting ballads that remain an ace in their collective sleeve. With its spooky harmonies, moldering keyboards, and cryptic air of regret, it's not only a fine Beak> song, it's one that Barrow's other project, Portishead, could easily cover. The EP's second half is more freewheeling, encompassing the spacy robot rock of "Pillow" and an interpretation of "Allé Sauvage" by innovative accordionist Mario Batkovic, who transforms the >>> highlight into something more intimate but just as striking. Where the sprawling original felt like a suite from a sci-fi movie score, Batkovic's version is pure suspense, from its crawling prelude to the creaks that punctuate the melody's fluttering intensity. While none of the songs on Life Goes On sound the same, they all feel very Beak> -- and that's a testament to their ability to avoid the obvious and remain remarkably entertaining in the process. ~ Heather Phares