Beams is a psychedelic folk-rock band that formed in 2011 in Toronto, Canada. Pairing the stunning harmonization of female voices with the shimmering textures of telecaster and vibraphone, they have been described as “darkly spellbinding” (American Songwriter) and have been compared to artists ranging from Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush to Low and Fiver.
The success of the band’s debut album Just Rivers (2013), produced by Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies, The Sadies), helped the band break out of Canada and into the US market, where they have become an audience favourite. That led to a connection with Chicago post-rock pioneer John McEntire (Tortoise, Broken Social Scene), who tracked their 2015 single, “The Gutters and the Glass”, which was followed up with a release of their popular cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”. For their second full-length album, Teach Me to Love (2018), Beams decamped to Toronto studio Union Sound Company (METZ, Weaves). While that record was the product of crisis and trauma, Ego Death (2020) was the joyful sound of recovery.
“The Spark in Your Eye” EP (2023) continues the band’s tradition of stylistically nonconformist storytelling and world-building, from 2013’s folksy “Just Rivers”, to 2020’s prog-tinged “Ego Death”, to their current guitar-driven sound described by Exclaim! Magazine as “bright and menacing”.
The band has plans for a May 2024 release of “Requiem for a Planet”, recorded by Kevin S. McMahon (Swans, Real Estate, Titus Andronicus) at Marcata Recording, a 200-year-old barn at the base of the Shawangunk mountains in New Paltz, NY.
Photo credit: Desiree Das Gupta
