- Until now Beacon, the Brooklyn duo of Thomas Mullarney and Jacob Gossett, have chiefly produced broken R&B that rarely ventured above a gentle stroll—post-club, bury-your-head-in-the-pillow music. It would be a stretch to suggest their first offering since 2013's The Ways We Separate is significantly different—at least in terms of mood—but it does see a shift towards a poppier, even dancier milieu. It proves to be a pretty good fit.
L1 is pitched somewhere between Thom Yorke's maudlin solo experiments, the glistening electro pop of Morgan Geist and Travis Stewart's emotive bass voyages. It's led by the low-slung alt-techno of "Fault Lines," filled with arps that trickle like a mountain stream and synths that are hammered with a zealous intensity. The title track sees Mullarney's Yorke-style vocals come to the fore; there's the same world-weary tone, which soars into a lovely falsetto on the gossamer-light chorus.
The scuttling drum & bass-lite of "Minor Sequence" is L1's weakest track, but redemption is instant: the glacial "Better Love" is enveloped by a lovely cloud of bubbly analogue synths. And yet it's outshone by "Only Lines," an elegant slice of brooding deep house, haunted by pads that elicit an almost church-like ambience. It closes an intimate, refined EP.
TracklistA1 Fault Lines
A2 L1
A3 Minor Structures
B1 Better Love
B2 Only Us