At times, it can feel like an artist’s influences are goading them. There are few things more honest than admitting what songs get you off by stitching elements of them to your own music, but that honesty wears the hefty price tag of being branded empty and derivative. Some artists know that, which is why they pretend they’ve never heard Nirvana. Then there’s Beabadoobee, who trades in a hyper-aware sort of idol worship.
That Bea Kristi’s debut LP would artfully straddle the line between the indie-rock salad days of the 1990s and the here and now is not a surprise given the extent to which she arrived fully formed with her early singles, which were YouTube hits thanks to a gauzy, lo-fi aesthetic that was in 20 years before YouTube existed. The production has been beefed up, certainly, but the raw materials here have been in situ for some time.
Much like her labelmates in Pale Waves, whose obsession of choice is mid-80s goth-pop, on ‘Fake it Flowers’ Kristi swims against the current of her sonic affectations, with a number of pleasing melodies trampled into the earth by totemic genre signifiers.
The boisterous opener Care, with its stop-start dynamics and drawled hooks, might have passed muster as a b-side from Hole’s ‘Celebrity Skin’.
So too the late album highlight Together, which hits on the enticing seam of teen flick romanticism at the heart of ‘Fake it Flowers’. “Guess that’s how my life will go, at least we’re together, though,” Kristi sings with a neat sense of wounded understatement. She follows it with the almost celebratory will-they-won’t-they quandary of Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene, which is rougher around the edges and all the better for it. In moments like these, she is capable of standing her ground.
Beabadoobee Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue September 07 2021 - MANCHESTER O2 Ritz
Thu September 09 2021 - LEEDS Leeds Beckett Student Union
Fri September 10 2021 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Sat September 11 2021 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Mon September 13 2021 - CAMBRIDGE Cambridge Junction
Tue September 14 2021 - LEICESTER O2 Academy2 Leicester
Thu September 23 2021 - LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
Fri September 24 2021 - BRISTOL SWX
Sat September 25 2021 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Tue September 28 2021 - DUBLIN Academy
Wed September 29 2021 - BELFAST Oh Yeah music Centre
Sat October 02 2021 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Newcastle University
Sun October 03 2021 - EDINBURGH Liquid Room
Mon October 04 2021 - GLASGOW SWG3
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
.jpg)
