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by Chris Bryson<\/b><\/p>\n
Following an experimental route in any artistic medium involves taking chances, sticking by them, and a drive for continued evolution. Beth\u2019s mutating avant-garde aspirations put the trio in a wheelhouse where not many Winnipeg bands dwell, but that hasn\u2019t kept them from digging deeper into the unknown.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Frontman Stefan Wolf says a part of the new sound comes from him and bassist Ken Prue, who used to play in a band called Pop Crimes before Beth, freeing themselves from an established way of thinking and getting into fresh ideas. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we were still in the realm of thinking in kind of a Pop Crimes mindset for like half of the writing process,\u201d explains Wolf. \u201cAnd then we kind of slowly started writing things that were definitely much different but we were still kind of tethered to that idea and now I think we\u2019ve shed everything that we originally thought about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Beth is now composed of Wolf, Prue, and Charlotte Friesen on guitar. Wolf says they\u2019ve had difficulty retaining members; drummers in particular, and now fill out Beth\u2019s sound with a drum machine. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe did it,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cIt\u2019s a joke everybody makes and then all of a sudden it was like you know what, let\u2019s try it. Touring our vehicle is half the size; gas is half as expensive. Our accommodations are not expensive. It makes things so much easier. And I mean obviously writing is a lot more difficult.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Beth\u2019s evolving shape is exemplified in \u201cIsolation,\u201d the first track released as their new iteration that flows eerily with solemn basslines, shimmering guitar, electronic percussion and distancing ripples as Wolf\u2019s calm brooding baritone anchors the miasma. The feeling is encompassing: grand yet spare.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe want to create \u00a0a full sound but we don\u2019t want to just throw in a bunch of different parts that just fills it up. So it is kind of minimalist in that sense,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cIt\u2019s an amalgamation of everything that we learned before and everything looking forward. I\u2019ve always secretly loved electronic music. And I feel like for the first time in my musical career that\u2019s actually kind of slowly moving in. Just like synthesizers and drum beats and stuff like that. It\u2019s definitely not electronic music by any means. There\u2019s ideas that are coming in there that are not rock oriented. It\u2019s more of a feeling than a genre that it\u2019s coming from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Wolf says this feeling is more of an aesthetic, and describes an interest in the German Bauhaus art school and movement as an influence on Beth\u2019s new sound. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was basically an idea that you would be trained how to make, like not only would you design things but you would actually build all of those things,\u201d explains Wolf. \u201cIt was more of a technical school where there was like… you would be in choreography, you would choreograph the dance, but then you would also build all the costumes. And then you would build all the sets. And then you would write the music. So it was a very all-encompassing kind of full idea. And there was lots of stark angles and really broad shapes, it\u2019s so surreal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we crafted this whole idea, obviously with lots of help from our friends,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a greater aesthetic that I can kind of see for this new iteration. Where the last one the aesthetic was basically gloomy, dark, and theatrical, which was fantastic, but I think this is a little bit more focused and different.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Wolf\u2019s been writing in various forms since he was fifteen years old and writes all of Beth\u2019s lyrics. He says that over time as he\u2019s gotten more comfortable writing what he actually means. He\u2019s also found there to be more meaning in the experiences that come from expressing his writing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting better. I\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m completely there, but I can actually say what I want to say now,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cWhich as performing those songs it definitely makes the performance a lot more meaningful, a lot more powerful and intense, for myself and then outwardly for the audience. Because then it\u2019s like, I know what I\u2019m saying and I\u2019m saying it pretty directly so there\u2019s not a lot of armor there anymore, which is terrifying and exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a lot more comfortable. I feel like at this point when I get on stage and the band starts playing, that\u2019s actually the safe zone,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cI could be in front of two people I could be in front of five hundred people it doesn\u2019t really matter. The music is the armor. And then you\u2019re just in it. And if you go back on that point, the only disservice you\u2019re doing is to yourself. You might as well just give in to it and see what it does as opposed to what you\u2019re going to do with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Beth will continue to tour and will be releasing singles for the next little while as they work on pushing their sound and building a collection of music \u2013 but without feeling obligated to put out anything specific until they\u2019re ready.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got our work cut out for us for the next little while,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be not so secretive about it anymore. We\u2019re just going to keep being loud.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Chris Bryson Following an experimental route in any artistic medium involves taking chances, sticking by them, and a drive for continued evolution. Beth\u2019s mutating avant-garde aspirations put the trio in a wheelhouse where not many Winnipeg bands dwell, but that hasn\u2019t kept them from digging deeper into the unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1355,160,307,419,453,590,1356,766,1357,1259,1104],"class_list":["post-11226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-beth","tag-canada","tag-electronic","tag-hardcore","tag-indie","tag-manitoba","tag-post-punk-rock","tag-punk","tag-punk-rock","tag-tour","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11228,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11226\/revisions\/11228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}