It brings me great joy to be sharing new music from West Coast band Beachwood Sparks after a ten-year wait. ‘Torn in Two’ finds the three founding members of the band back together; singers and songwriters Christopher Gunst (guitar), Brent Rademaker (bass) and Farmer Dave Scher (keyboards and lap steel) have lost none of their magic. Pioneers of indie-country with a hint of psychedelia, the Sparks deliver a finely-crafted song that laments the age we live in, featuring flowing harmonies and a typically dreamy vocal melody to lose yourself in. By the end, a gorgeous guitar solo rises to cosmic heights. ‘Torn in Two’ is accompanied by an animated video by Mark Neeley.
The single is from their forthcoming fifth album ‘Across the River of Stars’, which is produced by Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) and captures, once again, that distinctively ethereal, cosmic Beachwood Sparks sound.
The new record, due on 19th July 2024, builds on their much-loved previous releases: ‘Once We Were Trees’ and ‘The Tarnished Gold’, the latter of which was included in my list of the top ten albums of the 20th century here. Fans can expect absorbing tunes of aching beauty, soothing tones, uplifting harmonies and instrumentation that touches the cosmos.
