On his fifth LP Big Black Plume, Melbourne-based musician Michael Beach reveals the vitalising power of connection in an often hostile world. Equally informed by the songwriting of Bill Fay and Peter Laughner, the minimalism of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, and the rock and roll heart of the Goner Records roster, Big Black Plume provides deliberate compositions adorned with genuine madness. The songs on this album range from spare, textural ballads, to spiralling psychedelic overtures connected to a propulsive cosmic pulse.
Building on Beach’s network from over 20 years of touring, engineering, and production work (in Melbourne, SF, and LA), and employment in independent touring venues, Big Black Plume features contributions from a murderers’ row of talent. Produced by Beach and Gareth Liddiard (Tropical Fuck Storm), the record includes Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner, The Necks bassist Lloyd Swanton, Tropical Fuck Storm members Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, folk artist Leah Senior, Oren Ambarchi collaborator Joe Talia, and Comets on Fire’s Utrillo Kushner, among others.
Beach is a masterful songwriter–he writes songs as seen from 10,000 feet, from 6 feet under–from every angle. The songs here aren’t stick-and-poke songs that will dry and fade on the skin, aimless prayers for jams; Beach has been making deliberate things for decades. Big Black Plume is a record about connections, mercurially curated, transforming individual contributions into something strikingly communal.
For the last decade, Beach has called Melbourne home, a city that knows the power of community–in myriad small venues like The Tote and The Old Bar, in community radio stations like RRR and PBS, in countless independent bands playing all genres every night, untouched by heavy industry. For a living, Beach teaches music (often to folks in those same small bands). He produces, engineers, or performs as a guest musician for friends’ bands (most recently for Tropical Fuck Storm on their forthcoming record Fairyland Codex). He worked for years at San Francisco’s Hemlock Tavern, a hub in the American musical underground. For years, Beach has been carefully fostering musical connections – for the making of Big Black Plume, it was time to bring the community together.