Beau James Wilding adds to his discography with a new release, the ‘Here There Be Dragons’ EP, joining a trio of albums including Violet of the Pacific, The Amor Fati of Crazy Cloud and seeing I god. Hailing from California’s south-central coast, Beau’s music reflects a diverse array of influences, blending elements from punk, blues, jazz, and Irish Traditional Music. Putting his words to music from the age of fifteen, Beau deepened an already growing connection with music when a disease left him legally blind, making each song all the more meaningful. Explorative in every track he releases and high-energy live, Beau, accompanied by his band, can be characterised by their emotionally charged experiences, blending traditional ballad elements with a gritty determination.
Rooted in an interest in the drone-based arrangements found in Eastern music, the Californian’s latest release follows from his recent single ‘Here There Be Dragons’. As the fuzzy continuum of the drone surrounds the listener, Beau’s energised acoustic rhythms play around it, adapting the note into different contexts, each with a vibrant feel. Layering these acoustic to create a layer of their own, Beau then finds his voice across the project, looking inward to find the deeper meaning of the actions he takes, delivering these feelings like poetry, expressing the changing introspections he holds. Sprinkled with the occasional twinkle of percussion or colourful harmonica solo, Beau’s outpour of emotions is gentle yet momentous, simple, yet spellbinding.
Beau shares, “‘Here There Be Dragons’ is excitable and meant to encourage. ‘I Am an Illusion’ is a reflective and melancholic confessional with a slight twist of humor. ‘Cross-Eyed Heart’ is a vulnerable exploration into confronting a dead relative about old wounds and brings to ear tones of fear, darkness and death. ‘Bird of Paradise”’presents an instrumental, ambient landscape intended to express the principle of yugen in Japanese, or my limited understanding of this concept of beauty fleetingly emerging. I composed the tune while staring out my window during a rainstorm, watching the wind blow a bird of Paradise violently about. There is a sense of sadness and heaviness, contrasted with a lightness when you can hear the sun breaking through briefly about mid-way through. I hope to continue to touch on all of these themes in my work. Energy, honest humor, vulnerability, explorations of death and darkness contrasted with beauty are all themes I find exciting.”
