It still amazes me after twenty years or so how Mark Beazley can still make the bass guitar sound so different and vital across his various releases as Rothko. It feels like a personal crusade, a one-man (sometimes with help — Johny Brown, Michael Donnelly) to keep that cavernous echoing dream sound alive in the hearts of the listening public; and Rothko albums never fail to overwhelm, regardless of the emotional or political landscape surrounding them.
That sonorous, welcoming chime that opens Refuge For Abandoned Souls on “Place Your Soul Next To Mine” immediately indicates to whom we are listening and the plangent chords also tell us that things are not as bleak or ferocious as they were on last year’s Blood Demands More Blood. Here, the chords are surrounded by space with a scrape of feedback and delicate separate notes that still generate a sigh, and the merging of the three elements stand as Mark’s finest contribution. The swell of reverb that accompanies this seems to echo through the trees depicted on the artwork with a mournfulness that never fails to move.
There is still discord here and the distortion on “The Last Bells Will Sound Forever” captures that; but somehow it all feels more internal, more personal. Railing at political figures and frustrated hand-wringing has given way to a despair at the progress of humanity — or lack thereof. Where went bombast and fury last year, now steps something reflective and unsettled. However it goes, Mark’s personality and strength imbues each album with something fresh and the tranquillity of the notes on “The Day Before The Day After Your Death” is accompanied by breaths that seem just about strong enough to rustle the branches at the tops of the trees. “The Day After Your Death” is the complete antithesis, with earth-moving distortion that proves not all is settled; the scrape and scratch of dirt and decay is the sound of mudslides and cliff falls, forever burying who knows what and for how long. The strong yet hesitant notes of “Your Broken Body Has Found A Home” leave long, residual echoes that drift into the sky like palls of smoke, overwhelming the initial sound; whereas ”Forever Never Alone” is more of a dust-cloud chasing a fleeing car across a vast wasteland, threatening to engulf it at any moment. This ability to use the different effects to imbue such different feels make each track a genuine progression, a changing set of thought-provoking images. The depth charges and echoey distortion of ‘Your Heart Used To Beat, Now It Beats Faster” makes for a strange, obfuscated landscape, misty and dark. The notes are almost tangible, whereas the distortion is the distinct opposite.It feels like a real labour of love to have pushed and pursued the sounds contained herein and across his career with such enthusiasm, capturing changing moods and a wealth of feelings through the medium of the bass guitar, and still compel the listener to look forward to the next instalment. The final track on Refuge For Abandoned Souls, “Rest Your Head With Me”, has a clarity, a sense of purpose that almost clears the melancholy air that has built up over the last forty minutes or so, moving on with a spring in its step and bringing us to a satisfactory conclusion.
Once again, Mark Beazley has moved and impressed in equal measure, and I like to think that these little treats will be regular missives for the foreseeable future.-Mr Olivetti-
